Brand New Day
by Look-Out-Here-Comes-Tom
Summary: This is something like a proof-of-concept and a "what if" story combining G-5 spoilers and speculation on my part. It's a kind of a first attempt at what a G-5 pilot might look like, based on what we know about G-5.
1. Chapter 1

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Shining Armor was awakened by the feel of hooves drumming on the bed around him. He knew immediately that it could only be his overeager sister, before he even heard her begin to sing at the top of her lungs:

 _Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! It's a bad new day!_  
 _I have an awesome feeling, things will go our way!_

 _So why just stay here; there's a world to explore,_  
 _There's stuff to learn, treasures to find, and so much more!_

...She was just too darn _cute_ for him to be mad at her, and he _HAD_ planned to go exploring Rainbow Mountain with her, starting early in the morning, so he just sat up and sang right back at her:

 _Exploring with you is the highlight of being me,_  
 _But shouldn't we get packed before we head out of our tree?_

Twilight threw an already-packed set of saddlebags at her brother-he'd packed it himself the previous evening with all the supplies and gear he'd need for the trip, and completely forgotten that he had. Not missing a beat in their song, Twilight continued,

 _We're packed and ready, why wait? Let's get out right way!_

Still not missing a beat, Shining Armor asked her:

 _Can't we have some breakfast first?_

And she answered, blushing a little:

 _We'll just graze-we're out of hay!_

Shining Armor smiled and kept singing:

 _Oh, I'll stop making excuses, I know I'll love each minute!_

Twilight reared with glee and answered:

 _And I just KNOW_ _ **today**_ _we'll find a cave with treasure in it!_

They continued in perfect harmony:

 _And then we'll pay the mortgage off, we'll FINALLY be free,_  
 _An even brighter future then, for our parents, you and me!_

The two of them sprinted out of their parents' bookbinding workshop and home, which was indeed a hollowed-out tree, waving goodbye to their parents and racing for all they were worth up the path up Rainbow Mountain. They continued their song in a happy chorus:

 _Let's explore, the world's brand-new!_  
 _Let's get out there, me and you!_

 _New discoveries await,_  
 _I just KNOW it will be great,_

 _And greatness is a thing to share,_  
 _So come on, let's get out there!_

This isn't the first time they'd sung as they explored; often when they sang like this, they jumped into and out of their song as the hours of exploration rolled by. This time was no different, and after an hour or so, Twilight pulled her journal out of her saddlebag and opened it to a page with a heavily annotated map on it, and began to sing:

 _We know there's diamonds in this mountain, we found a few before_  
 _But years of research proves there's caves with many many more!_

 _I've mapped the mountain front to back, except for one last place,_

Shining Armor smiled, looking over her shoulder at the spot circled on her map in red pencil, and sang back to her:

 _That narrows down the search, and now we know what path we'll trace!_

After Twilight packed her journal away again, they began galloping on their newly-chosen route and resumed their harmony:

 _All of these years exploring, and it comes down to today,_  
 _All this hard work and persistence finally will pay!_  
 _We can't stop now, no, not when we've already come this far,_  
 _And it's so good, exploring like the family we are!_

After perhaps half an hour, they found themselves pushing their way through a dense thicket, and just as they were exiting it, Twilight again began to sing:

 _I'm glad we explore together, it's safer when there's two,_

At that exact moment, Shining Armor looked at the sky-a prudent thing to do often on that mountain. He immediately noticed an approaching storm, and tapped Twilight on the shoulder to draw her attention to it as he sang,

 _An extra pair of eyes to help us see our journeys through!_

These storms came with so little warning-Twilight immediately set her saddlebags on the ground, opened them, and yanked her rain poncho out of her bag so quickly that she didn't notice that it can been caught on her pick, and that the act of yanking it out tore the whole poncho in two! Twilight gasped, turned her back to the storm, got down on the ground, and covered her head with her hooves-there was no shelter anywhere, and this was the most she'd be able to do to try to retain what little body-heat she could in the rapidly-approaching downpour!

While she was doing all these things-realizing her poncho was torn and turning her back to the storm-she sang on:

 _When one of us makes some mistake, when storms start to attack_

Shining Armor saw what had happened to his sister, and wasn't about to let her catch pneumonia. His own poncho was fine, and his muscular frame was big enough that he could comfortably stand over his sister while she was huddled on the ground like this. He did stand over her, and wrapped his poncho around her like a blanket or a tent, protecting her on all sides. She looked up at him as he did this, and her look of shock and horror faded to a huge smile as he sang back to her:

 _The other can be counted on to always have their back!_

She rubbed her mane against Shining Armor's chin in gratitude as the downpour swept over them, and he nuzzled her right back, closing the front of his poncho around her.

For maybe twenty minutes, they stayed that way: Twilight lying on the ground, her brother standing over her with his long poncho forming walls on all four sides of her to keep the rain out and their body heat in. It was downright _cozy_ , and made them wonder why they hadn't sheltered from the rain that way more often. Before long, though, the sun's rays shone through, a rainbow appeared above them, and the slick rocks began to dry out. Just as this was getting to the point where it was safe for them to start moving again, Shining Armor resumed their song:

 _The storms don't last forever, the sun will dry the ground_

Twilight bolted out from under Shining Armor, eager to continue exploring, and sang back:

 _And that's when we'll explore again, and find what can be found!_

Shining Armor smiled and began to run after her, joining her in the chorus again:

 _Let's explore, the world's brand-new!_  
 _Let's get out there, me and you!_

 _New discoveries await,_  
 _I just KNOW it will be great,_

 _And greatness is a thing to share,_  
 _So come on, let's get out there!_

Before they even had occasion to begin singing again, Twilight stopped and stared at the side of the mountain with a lantern in her hoof. Shining Armor, just having finished putting his now-dry poncho away in his saddlebags, came up behind her to see what she was staring at...and saw the light of her lantern glittering back at them in a dazzling array of colors from all over the inside of a cave. They both knew this could only mean one thing, but they had to look more closely...

They stepped up to the cave mouth, looked inside, and then looked at each other with smiles bigger than they'd ever seen before, then back into the cave.

They broke the delighted silence as they jumped into the cave, singing to each other and every third line in harmony:

 _So many diamonds, floor to ceiling!_  
 _I cannot describe this feeling!_  
 _Freedom shines and glitters in this cave!_

 _So much more than we can carry!_  
 _Worth so much, it's kinda scary!_  
 _But I know that we can both be brave!_

 _I'll get us the mineral rights!_  
 _If only we could share this sight!_  
 _Mom and Dad'll flip when we return!_

Twilight gasped,

 _I've GOT write in my journal_ _ **now**_ _!_

Shining Armor carefully drew his pick out of his saddlebag and sang back:

 _I'll dig up some gems somehow,_  
 _Write away-we've got some time to burn!_

Twilight gratefully pulled her shiny journal out of her bag, slipped out a bracelet that allowed her to attach a pen to her hoof, and wrote:

 _Dear diary-_

 _The most AMAZING thing happened today! I mean-I was expecting it, I KNEW it'd be today because it was the last part of the mountain that we hadn't explored, but...we finally found it! The mother lode of Rainbow Diamonds!_

 _YEARS of scientific study, exploring and mapping...and now I'm writing this in a cave COVERED with diamonds! Soon, they'll be ALL OURS!_

An hour later, they'd filled all the spare space in their saddlebags with as many rainbow diamonds as they could, and raced back home, happier than they'd ever felt in their lives. They sang in their delight:

 _Let's go home, we've got our prize!_  
 _Mom and Dad won't believe their eyes!_

 _A better life awaits,_  
 _I just KNOW it will be great,_

 _And greatness is a thing to share,_  
 _So come on, let's get back there!_

The trip back to Ponyville from the cave was uneventful; the trip back always feels faster than the trip there-and even though their saddlebags were nearly bursting with heavy diamond stones, it felt like their hooves hardly touched the ground! Thank goodness it didn't rain on their way back; the mountain almost always had a few rainstorms pouring down onto it-the very magic that formed the diamond crystals they were carrying also encouraged rain clouds to form, and gave the mountain its name: Rainbow Mountain. But luck had doubly favored them that day.

The next few hours felt like a blur: Twilight and Shining Armor rushed to the courthouse and greased the frog of _just_ the right judge with a diamond, and within minutes, they had a roll of parchment giving the two siblings _exclusive_ mineral rights for the _whole cave system_! After that, they went to their usual gem dealer, Amethyst Star, and walked away with a hefty check. Then off to the bank they went.

As they stepped out of the bank, Twilight held the receipts for the mortgage payment and the deposit in her hoof with a sense of overwhelming pride. "Look at this!" she said to Shining Armor.

"I'm looking, I'm looking!" he answered, barely able to contain his excitement. "TEN YEARS! _Ten whole years_ paid ahead on the mortgage!"

Twilight laughed. "And I was worried that we'd get in trouble for the last payment being an hour late-TEN YEARS AHEAD! There's NO way we'll be in trouble NOW!"

"I can't wait to see the looks on Mom and Dad's faces when they see THIS!"

"I can't wait to spend these coins on some SHOPPING! I've never had my hooves on even ONE gold coin, let alone EIGHT! I'm not sure how a pony can even _spend_ this much money, but I'm dying to find out!"

"Okay, we need to decide...which do we do first, show this to Mom and Dad, or shop? I wouldn't want to miss either one...!"

Holding a gold coin in her hoof, Twilight smirked. "Flip ya for it!"

Shining Armor smirked back. "You're on, sis!"

The coin went sailing into the air, glittering yellow against the blue sky. "Tails!" Shining Armor called out as it fell. It struck the ground with a sound only gold can make, and showed the face of their princess quite clearly. "D'aww, dragged along shopping by my sister; every brother's worst nightmare!" he pretended to groan-but his smile gave away that he wasn't feeling bad about it at all!

"Come on-I need a new poncho after tearing that last one!"

"I guess it's a good idea to upgrade our gear a bit, now that we have the money for it...!" Shining Armor mused.

Off to the outfitters they went. He didn't take any time at all in picking out a set of larger saddle bags, a better pick and shovel, a new rainsuit, a new bedroll, a towel, and a pair of binoculars, but Twilight insisted on trying on saddlebag after saddlebag, then dress after dress, then poncho after poncho. She tried so many colors: deep blue, a lavender color that nearly matched her fur, bright lemon yellow, deep forest green. After over an hour, she finally settled on a thick, bright tomato-red rain cape that went down to her hooves and had a huge drawstring hood, and baby-blue saddlebags with her cutie mark embroidered onto them. Shining Armor had lost track of the dresses she'd bought.

Shining Armor had his items bundled inside his new saddlebags, but Twilight insisted on stepping out of the outfitter's shop dressed in her bright red cloak with her saddlebags draped overtop of it. "You do know you're going to sweat like a stuck pig under that cloak, don't you?" he asked.

"I don't think I will. Besides, I just HAVE to show it off!" Twilight beamed. "It took MONTHS of working at Dad's bookbinding shop to save up for my first poncho; I want to juice all the worth I can out of _this_ one!"

"...You're going to juice YOURSELF of every drop of sweat you've got!"

"If I do, then I'll ask for my money back! The tag said this cape was _magic_ , that it regulates your body temperature. _Keeps you warm and cozy through the Vanhoover freezing rain, keeps you cool and dry in a sweltering Viet Cob jungle monsoon_ ," Twilight recited.

She changed the subject. "I can't believe we've gotten everything we could want from the outfitters, but we've only spent _one_ of those gold coins! I guess figuring out what to _do_ with all that money is going to be harder than I thought!"

"We'll buy something tasty for dinner tonight," Shining Armor thought aloud, and his eyes wandered to the farmer's market. He spotted the apple stand where his best friend usually worked, but he wasn't there: his sister Applejack was, instead. His smile faded, and he looked uncertainly at Twilight. A sly, almost cruel grin was spreading across her face. "Twilight...what does that look mean?"

"I just thought of something I can do with our money!"

"Uh-oh... What're you planning to do to Applejack?"

"Oh, I think I'll... _share the wealth_ a little," she said innocently.

"You know...her brother and I are good friends, but you and her just HATE each other. I've never understood that."

"Oh, there's a perfectly logical explanation for it." After a brief pause, Twilight turned to her brother and finished the thought: "She's a total _jerkface_!"

"She's always been nice to me!"

"Trust me. She's a jerkface."

Shining Armor shook his head. "Whatever you do to her, please, don't make me ashamed of it when Big Mackintosh confronts me about it."

"Oh, don't worry," Twilight smiled back. "Just let me have two of those gold coins. I'll buy groceries for dinner and meet you back home in an hour."

Shining Armor shrugged and shook two of the coins into Twilight's pouch. He stepped up to Applejack a little awkwardly, knowing that his sister was about to do something to make AJ miserable. He didn't know what, but part of him didn't want to steal his sister's thunder about their miraculous discovery, so he just asked, "Excuse me, Applejack, but...where's your brother?"

Applejack looked him over and sadly answered, "He's in bed...he broke his leg, we think; the silo fell on him this morning."

Shining Armor's ears went back and he stiffened. "Is he going to be alright?"

Applejack frowned and stared at the dirt under her stand. "I sure hope so," she mumbled.

Without another word, Shining Armor bolted to the Sweet Apple Acres orchard, leaving Twilight behind. She'd not heard the conversation. Part of her wanted to ask "What was that all about?" but she knew she had more important things to think about, like taking her archnemesis down a peg.

She strutted up to the apple booth with a big grin on her face. Applejack didn't seem to notice her at first, she was looking down the whole time and seemingly lost in thought. _So I can make this a surprise attack_ , Twilight thought to herself, _Without even really trying! Oh, THIS will be good!_

She kept walking until she was just a few inches from the counter. Still no reaction from Applejack. If she was pretending to ignore her, THAT certainly wasn't going to make Twilight walk away-not after everything that had happened that day!

Twilight decided to get her attention; she audibly took a deep breath and said, "Well, I've _certainly_ worked up an appetite from all that mountain-climbing! I think a nice tasty APPLE would hit the spot!"

Applejack looked up at Twilight with a scowl. "You know, I don't think you even KNOW what the word 'work' means. If you did, you'd be helping your dad bind books right now. And I don't think you have any business being here or talking about apples; maybe the outfitters are letting you pay with credit today, but we're _not_. Cash up front, or get outta here!"

A loud shout interrupted her: "Here we have Scootaloo!"

Twilight gasped-for a moment, she forgot all about taking Applejack down a peg. "Not _Scootaloo_ on the auction block!"

"I can't believe a pony we went to school with would end up _there_!" Applejack gulped.

"For the crime of bankruptcy while being indebted for an amount of 114 gold pieces, she is to be indentured for a period not to surpass ten years!"

" _Ten years_!" Twilight hissed. "Her boss goes out of business, no fault of hers, she loses her job, and look what happens to her-just because she had a mortgage to pay!"

For her part, Scootaloo was a sobbing, trembling wreck. Her shivering made the chains binding her legs together jingle, a constant reminder that she was no longer free. She glanced out at the crowd as the bidding started, hoping against hope that she'd find a kind master.

Twilight began to wish that she'd kept a larger chunk of the money she'd made from the sale of the diamonds instead of putting almost everything towards paying the mortgage ahead-maybe she could've bid and save her old schoolmate! But it was too late, and there was nothing she could do to save her now.

"Well, now, maybe it wasn't her fault," Applejack admitted. "But then again, you don't work, you don't get money. You don't get money, you end up on that auction block don't you?"

Twilight smirked at her. "I prefer to work _smarter_ , not harder."

"Sounds like an excuse to be _lazy_ to me!" Applejack growled.

"And THAT sounds like the kind of thing that'd come out of the oversized mouth of a pony who CAN'T work smarter-because she's just that DUMB!"

Applejack spat on the ground. "You want dumb? Try going deeper into debt to chase after diamonds that probably aren't even there on a dangerous mountain! Your family is going to end up on that auction block next, and when you get there, I will _laugh!_ "

The cruelty of Applejack's comment left Twilight speechless for a moment: when a family was placed on the auction block, the family was almost always split up. Marriages meant nothing when you became indentured, and children were taken away from their parents and siblings, no matter how close they are or how young they are. And besides that, everything the family owned-clothing, heirlooms, furniture, prized possessions ranging from parents' favorite books or tools to childrens' favorite toys-all of it was taken away from them and sold off. And Applejack had just wished _that_ on Twilight, on her hard-working parents, and on her beloved older brother, who was almost like her other half. Heck, _his_ best friend was _her_ brother-how can she be so cruel as to wish that on him?! _Because she's a jerkface!_ Twilight answered herself.

After a long pause where Twilight pondered the horror of this, Applejack broke the silence: "Are you going to buy anything-WITH CASH, let us not forget-or are you going to get out of here?!"

Twilight grinned, reminding herself why she was there and that she'd make Applejack _pay_ for her cruelty. She prepared for her master stroke. "One gala apple, please."

Applejack slid an apple with her hoof, but didn't put it in Twilight's reach just yet. "Let's see the cash."

Twilight's grin widened. "I was _hoping_ you'd say that!" She brought one of the gold coins out of her pouch with her teeth, bit it a little to show that it wasn't fool's gold, and spat it in front of Applejack, staring at her with a huge, cruel grin on her face.

Applejack stared in disbelief at the gold coin. It was probably a higher denomination of money than she'd ever seen before in her life. After a few moments, she looked up at Twilight accusingly.

Twilight had been waiting for her to look up, and as soon as their eyes met, she raised her eyebrows and slyly asked, "See the money?"

Applejack defensively asked, "What're you trying to get me involved in, here?! What scam are you running?!"

Twilight chuckled and pulled a scroll out of her saddlebag. "You are most decidedly NOT involved in anything but selling me an apple. But let me let you in on the secret of what _my brother and I_ are involved in." Dramatically she unfurled the scroll. "Read it and weep, sister! _Exclusive_ mineral rights to the cave system with entrance at latitude thirty-six degrees, six minutes and forty-four seconds north and longitude ninety-eight degrees, thirty-seven minutes and nineteen seconds west! A cave system discovered by myself and my brother, absolutely GLITTERING with rainbow diamonds, and they...are...all... _ours_!"

Applejack stood in utter disbelief of what she'd heard. Twilight struck while the iron was hot. "See the official seal of the Ponyville Courthouse on this document?"

Applejack had a look on her face that went beyond misery, beyond hate-it was a look of a mare who'd been _betrayed_. "This...this can't be right!" Applejack sputtered. "That's no way to make money! You make money by sticking close to your family, working hard, and...and making as much value as you can for them!"

"Well, I can see why you thought something like THAT," Twilight smoothly admitted, slowly pushing one of her hooves closer and closer toward Applejack's face-so slowly, Applejack didn't notice it. "I mean, ever since our school days, I'd be scraping together money for science books, exploration gear, that kind of thing...you'd be spending the allowance you got from working on your apple farm, buying ice cream and treats and grinning at me like this," Twilight pointed to her own face, "because you _always_ had more money than I did.

"But tell me: even if you'd saved up every cent you ever made instead of spending it, would it be equal to...THIS?" Twilight snapped her hoof up from where it had been sneaking along on the counter and showed Applejack the mortgage payment receipt hidden beneath it, in the coup de grace of Twilight's well-planned surprise attack.

Applejack's expression took on even _more_ disbelief, as difficult to imagine as it was. Twilight gave her a few moments to absorb what was happening. Applejack's expression shifted from disbelief back to betrayal as she looked up at Twilight. She began making noises of objection, none of which sounded like any words Twilight knew.

Twilight's smile grew and grew as Applejack tried and failed to give voice to the mixture of emotions that Twilight had successfully seeded her with. After the fifth or sixth attempt, Twilight interrupted, "Do you, by any chance, have _change_ for that gold coin?"

Applejack's mix of emotions gave way to pure anger. She stamped her hoof and bellowed, "You know as well as I do that's _ten weeks of a pony's wages_ , and there isn't a food stand in the _whole farmer's market_ that'd have anything CLOSE to change for that!"

Twilight's smile narrowed, and she reached up with her hoof, patted Applejack on the cheek, and crooned, "Then keep the change, my little pony. Buy yourself something nice!" She slid the apple back to herself, and still staring at Applejack, bit into it slowly so that the juice dribbled off her chin and onto her raincoat. _Ha. I didn't even think to wear this cape to keep apple juice off my fur, but it works!_ Twilight thought to herself as she chewed with her mouth slightly open, still staring at Applejack with her cruel grin.

Applejack burst into tears and sprinted away from the stand at a full gallop. Twilight's eyes followed her as she raced toward Sweet Apple Acres. "THAT was for all those years of flaunting ice cream and candy in my face while _I_ was trying to scrape together money to buy BOOKS-and _then_ wishing my _whole family_ was on that auction block!" she snarled under her breath.

Her display had garnered her quite an audience; practically the whole farmer's market had stopped whatever they were doing and were staring at Twilight's display of conspicuous consumption. Almost everyone at the market was staring with horror, except for one gray mare who was smirking a little at the display, and the ponies who were occupied by the indenture auction: the bidding had finally finished, and a very gruff-looking stallion was now yanking Scootaloo by her chains off the block. Scootaloo yelped, shaking Twilight out of her schadenfreude and making her look in Scootaloo's direction for the first time since the auction began. Scootaloo's eyes met hers, and Scootaloo moaned, "Goodbye, Twilight!" as Twilight was the closest thing to a friend she had in sight.

For a brief instant, Twilight felt guilty and ashamed of herself-nearly the whole town was gripped by crippling debt, and here she was spending ten weeks' worth of a working-mare's wages, _just_ to make her archnemesis _miserable_...AND she'd done this in front of EVERYPONY. There might well have been ponies on the cusp of foreclosure or bankruptcy who'd just watched her use an amount of money that could save their homes-and use it to be _cruel_! She'd been trying to think of ways to spend her money, _this_ is what she'd thought of, but probably every other pony around was thinking "There was a better way to use that coin! Why couldn't that have been used to pay down my family's debt instead of just being used to be _cruel_?"

Twilight stopped herself-what she had done wasn't _that_ bad! It only differed by degree from all those moments where Applejack had made Twilight miserable by flaunting _her_ money. ...It was a pretty BIG degree, granted, but that only made Twilight more proud of herself: the fact is, she DID earn the money she'd made fair and square. It was her own forbearance, saving money so she could do scientific research and buy picks and saddlebags and raingear, so she could find those diamonds in the first place. That was the result of YEARS of blood, sweat, and tears! So was extracting a few tears from Applejack really that big a sin?

Even if it was, Applejack WAS now ten weeks' wages richer due to what Twilight did, and if she couldn't appreciate or accept that, well, that's HER problem!

Twilight finished her apple and walked away from the stand with an improved opinion of herself, went back to the bank to trade down the gold coin for more practical silver coins, and got busy picking out vegetables and sweetbreads for her and her brother's celebratory dinner that evening.

The gray mare who'd been watching this with a smirk instead of horror cantered deliberately but not with much obvious haste to the tallest office in town, only pausing to whisper some instructions to one other pony. She went right inside past the security guards, right up the stairs, and entered the largest office without stopping or being stopped. The stallion sitting at the giant desk in that office looked up at her expectantly and with just the smallest edge of surprise on his face.

The gray mare smiled. "Mr. Rich, the find of the century could be yours for the taking."

"You've got my attention," he answered neutrally.

She smiled. "A young mare named Twilight Sparkle and her brother-the ones who are regularly going out to explore Rainbow Mountain-have located a cave that they say is absolutely _glittering_ with Rainbow Diamonds, and she showed off an official court document giving her exclusive mineral rights for that cave." At that moment, the same pony she'd whispered to knocked on the door. "You have the information I asked for?" she asked, and a few pieces of parchment were put into her hoof. She looked down on them and smiled. "Judging from the fact that their parents' mortgage just got paid ahead by ten years this afternoon, I'd say they're telling the truth," she added, showing Filthy Rich the papers.

He examined them and smiled. "That late payment for this past month is all we need. But..." He frowned. "Will they have enough time?"

Silver Spoon sneered. "Leave that to me."

He smirked. "Even if I only have a chance at getting the mineral rights, it's a chance I intend to take. Taking chances _is_ the way you win at business, after all." His tone indicated that that was all he'd wanted to say, so the gray mare turned to leave. But Filthy Rich suddenly thought of something else: "Oh-and Silver Spoon?"

She turned around.

"Did she bribe a judge to give her these mineral rights so quickly?"

"I'll have somepony investigate."

"Do that, and get him put on the auction block for graft charges if it's true."

"Yes, sir... That's not a rule that we enforce very often," she observed.

He smirked. "Only when they accept a bribe from somepony who isn't _me_."


	2. Chapter 2

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Shining Armor sprinted toward Sweet Apple Acres and skidded to a halt at the gate. Buttercup, his best friend's mother, was outside, shutting off an irrigation trench with a sad, somewhat worried expression on her face.

"Mrs. Buttercup!" Shining Armor shouted to her, "I heard about what happened to Big Mack! Can I see him?"

She looked up at him and her face brightened just a little. "He's upstairs in his room. I think a friendly face is just what he needs, right now."

Shining Armor galloped to the barnhouse and slowed to a trot as he came to the door. He thunked loudly up the stairs and found his best friend lying in his and Applejack's bed, his leg battered, bandaged, and tied to a stick in several places.

Big Mackintosh began to smile at Shining Armor and he started to wave, but the slight movement caused his broken leg to shift, and he winced in pain.

"Try not to move," Shining Armor insisted, trotting into Big Mack's room and setting his saddlebags on the ground.

Big Mack grunted. "You sure don't need to tell me twice!" he groaned back through his teeth.

"How did it happen?"

Big Mack managed to get himself into a position where he wasn't in pain, and after a few deep breaths, answered, "The silo...it was empty. Not enough weight in it to keep it from swaying in the breeze. A huge, surprise blast of wind came from off of Rainbow Mountain, and then...well, I saw the whole silo coming down. It was going to hit Applejack, so I ran to her and pushed her out of the way. I was hoping I had enough speed to get both her and myself out from under it...well, MOST of me was out from under it!"

Shining Armor took a few seconds to absorb this-imagining what it must've felt like to see a family member in mortal danger.

Big Mack must've realized what Shining Armor was thinking, and said, "It was the scariest moment in my whole life...not the moment the silo hit me, but the moment before that, when I thought Applejack was going to die. It felt like everything was happening in slow-motion, all I could think about was getting her out of the way..."

Shining Armor nodded. A couple of times while they were exploring Rainbow Mountain, he and Twilight had had a brush with danger, and every time, his only thought was how to keep his sister safe...he knew the feeling all too well.

Looking at his friend's sorry-looking leg, he couldn't tell just how hurt it really was, there were so many bandages on it. "What did the doctor say about it?"

Big Mack shook his head. "Mom and Dad are already two months behind on the mortgage. They can't afford a doctor right now; we're just going to splint this and hope for the best."

"No. Way," Shining Armor firmly said. He picked up his pouch and shook out two gold coins onto his hoof.

Big Mack's eyes widened. After few second of looking from those coins to Shiny's eyes and back again, he laughed. "I'm the one who should be saying 'no way' to _you_ , here! What kind of diamond did you FIND to get you THAT much money?!"

Shining Armor shook his head with a smile. "Not just one diamond; Twilight finally found the mother lode!"

Big Mack's face brightened. "You're kidding me!"

"Nope! Twilight's research was right all along; there are caves under Rainbow Mountain, they're FULL of diamonds, and she and I scored exclusive mineral rights for the whole cave system!"

Big Mack leaned back in his bed, dizzy with the realization that THAT much wealth sat had been sitting _that_ close to Ponyville the whole time! After a few moments, he sighed. "Well, I sure hope you're proud of yourself! Now the whole rest of the town looks like idiots for NOT exploring the mountain like you and Twilight!"

Shining Armor chuckled. "Hey, we can't all be heroes." After a pause, he added, "Listen...I know your family's going through a difficult time right now, and you really, REALLY need to get a doctor to look at that leg...after everything that's happened, I...don't think I could think of myself as a friend if I didn't do _something_ to help you right now." He extended his hoof toward Big Mack's night-stand and dropped the coins onto it.

Big Mack looked at Shining Armor for a few seconds, dumbfounded, finally saying, "Thanks...I...I don't know what to say."

Shining Armor smiled and shook his head. "You don't have to say anything. I just wish you and I could have a nice night on the town to celebrate; it's a huge discovery. In a few more days, my family's going to be completely out of debt, and Twilight and I are going to have to decide what to DO with all those diamonds. You've got to try and heal up fast; I can't wait to show you that cave!"

"I can't wait to see it!" Big Mack chuckled.

At that moment, they heard Applejack come sprinting into the barn, sobbing her eyes out. She didn't rush up the stairs; she'd found some solitary, rarely-used closet on the ground floor where she could cry alone.

Shining Armor blushed and licked his lips. He knew it that, whatever Applejack's reason for crying was, it was Twilight's fault, and at this moment, he was NOT feeling proud of her.

For his part, Big Mackintosh was just confused. He was still inhaling to ask Shining Armor what he thought this was about, when Buttercup's voice interrupted, shouting after Applejack "AJ! If you're _here_ , who's minding the apple stand?!" After a few seconds of no response, Buttercup shouted Applejack's name again. Finally, she shouted up to Shining Armor, "Shining Armor, can you keep an eye on Big Mackintosh for a few minutes? I need to see what's going on with that apple stand!"

"Absolutely, Mrs. Buttercup!" he shouted back. He swallowed hard, knowing where his conversation with Big Mack would go next.

Big Mack took in Shining Armor's expression, then sighed knowingly. "It's Twilight, isn't it?"

Shining Armor looked sadly at the floorboards and nodded. "I asked her not to make me ashamed..."

"Hey," Big Mack interrupted softly. "There are times when I'm not proud of the things Applejack does, too. But they're our sisters. You love 'em to death even when they act up."

Shining Armor smiled. He should've known his friend would soften the blow. With a little guilt in his tone, he asked, "You think...Applejack will get over it soon?"

"I don't know...she feels like she needs to be alone, right now, so we should leave her be and let her get it out of her system."

Shining Armor went back to his saddlebag and pulled a board game out-the one thing he'd spent money on for pleasure that day. _I'll have to get used to spending money for pleasure_ , Shining Armor thought to himself as he brought the board game to Big Mack's bed and carefully laid it out so that they'd both be able to reach it. The two stallions spent about a half an hour playing it to pass the time while they waited for _something_ to happen-for Buttercup to come back from the fruit stand, for Bright Mackintosh to come in from the fields with questions, for Applejack to come upstairs and tear into Shining Armor for his sister's behavior, whatever it was. Both waited with bated breath, knowing that it could be bad for either or both of them, but they were glad to have a game to occupy their thoughts while they waited.

Finally, Buttercup came back with tears in her eyes. She tromped up to Big Mack's room like she had news she couldn't bear to share.

Big Mack swallowed hard. "What is it, Mom?"

"The apple stand...it was robbed while Applejack was away!"

The two stallions' jaws dropped.

"The cashbox, the apples, they were all taken...that's _it_!" she said with helpless finality. They could tell that her mind was _reeling_ with the horrors of the auction block as she said this.

Big Mack interrupted, "Mom, it's not anywhere NEAR as bad as you think! Shining Armor and Twilight found a cave full of diamonds, the mother lode. When I told him we couldn't afford a doctor, he..." Big Mack looked at his nightstand, and her eyes followed his.

She saw the two gold coins and _gasped_.

Shining Armor was about to say "Mrs. Buttercup, it really IS nothing!" but he stopped himself: likely, those two coins were the difference between losing their home _and_ livelihood _with_ a crippled son in tow, and continuing to have a roof over their heads and being able to provide for their family. It's hard to get further from nothing than _THAT_!

So he said nothing, but Buttercup sobbed, "Bless your heart, you wonderful colt!" She rushed toward him and embraced him, crying her eyes out. Shining Armor couldn't think how to respond to this. He looked at Big Mack, and he returned his gaze helplessly. Unable to think of anything else to say or even do, he hugged Mrs. Buttercup back as she sobbed and sobbed.

Finally, she said, "THANK you...! Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you! I was so afraid our family would end up on that auction block, and we'd never see each other again, and poor Big Mack would die with nopony to take care of him!"

"Mrs. Buttercup, you're very welcome, but it's probably better not to think about awful things like-"

She interrupted, "I've GOT to bake your family a pie, right now! It'll be ready for your dessert, I'll deliver it myself. You run along and let your family know."

Shining Armor paused, grateful for a chance to get away from what felt like a very awkward moment. "I'll...let them know." For a moment, he remembered that, however wonderful he'd just made Mrs. Buttercup feel, his sister had made Applejack feel just as awful, and on top of that, Twilight was at least partly to blame for the loss of the day's, or maybe even the _week's_ apple sales AND their stock of apples. He blushed again as he realized this...and how embarrassing it must be for their hardworking family to _need_ a handout like this in the first place. Yes, it was the right thing to do to share, especially for a family for whom it's practically the difference between life and death, but it was still an embarrassment to need the help in the first place.

He silently slipped the board game back into his bags as Mrs. Buttercup raced down to the kitchen to pour her heart and soul into the most epic baking she'd ever done in her life.

Big Mack was a bit embarrassed, himself. "Sorry I couldn't make an excuse to get you out of the room before she did that," he said sheepishly.

Shining Armor blushed. "I guess none of us really know how to react to this...listen, I don't know what it was my sister did to Applejack, but I'm sorry for it."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault."

"I'm still sorry about it."

"Better get out of here before Mom comes back up and promises you AJ's hoof in marriage for saving my family!"

Shining Armor stopped blushing and went pale at the thought of actually being married to his sister's archenemy. He tried to find something else to think about, then realized that Big Mack was probably bored out of his skull, having to lie in bed like this, so he pulled the game back out of his bag and left it on the bed. "I just realized that you need this a lot more than I do."

"Thank goodness for changes of subject," Big Mack chuckled as Shining Armor put his saddlebags back on. He added, "Thanks...for everything. I think you just saved my _life_!"

"Don't mention it," he answered softly. He crept out of the house as quietly as he could, hoping he wouldn't meet either Buttercup with her overzealous gratitude or Applejack, who would undoubtedly be furious for whatever evil Twilight had perpetrated.

Shining Armor cantered back to his parents' treehome and bookbinding shop with a lot on his mind. He'd never had to process this many emotions at once before! He was proud of their discovery and the fact that their mortgage was halfway paid-down, happy about his gear upgrades and the truly epic meal they were about to have, guilty about Twilight's behavior, afraid because he didn't know just what it was that Twilight did in the first place, embarrassed because he'd gotten a close look at another family's financial embarrassment and didn't quite know how to react to it _or_ their gratitude.

He reflected that it's possible to do the right thing, _know_ that you've done the right thing, and _still_ feel bad about it. Then he began to wonder whether it was possible to do the wrong thing, _know_ that you've done the wrong thing, and still feel _good_ about it...? That was a sickening thought, and even more sickening than that was the thought that followed: that Twilight might _be_ in that exact situation! He loved his sister, and wanted to think more highly of her than _that_!

As he stepped up to the gate of their property, he wondered how he should deal with what Twilight did-should he confront Twilight about it? He imagined the confrontation in his mind:

 _Twilight, I don't know what you did to Applejack, but when she ran away from her apple stand and left it unguarded, the stand was robbed! The Apple Family lost_ _ **everything**_ _!_ In his mind's eye, Twilight started cackling evilly.

 _Wait, no!_ Shining Armor thought. _That's not Twilight! She wouldn't laugh at something like THAT!_ He went over the conversation again in his imagination, and this time, she burst into tears. ...He didn't like to see his sister cry, so he went over it again in his mind, and Twilight defensively shouted in response, _Well, they deserve it for raising a horrible jerkface like Applejack!_

Shining Armor shook his head and tried to end this parade of awful imaginations. ...Maybe _now_ wasn't a good time to tell her about the consequences of her actions. She'd find out about it at some point, but...Shining Armor just felt too mixed-up right then to think clearly. He'd come back to this problem some other time when he had a readier mind.

He pushed the gate open and walked in the door. He tried to smile, tried to focus on the joy and pride of his and his sister's discovery and newfound wealth, and shouted ahead of himself, "Mom, Dad, did Twilight get home before me? You're not going to _believe_ the news we have; we found-"

The sound of sobs cut him off. Chills ran down his spine as he wondered: did some desperate or greedy pony decide to hold his sister for ransom? Did some kind of accident happen to his family, like the silo falling onto Big Mack? Did Applejack seriously hurt Twilight in her anger?

He rushed into the dining room and found Twilight and his mother and father hunched over a piece of paper and teary-eyed. Twilight's saddlebags lay in a corner, still full of groceries, untouched. At the sight of that much food untouched, he knew his mother was especially upset about something; normally she'd be eagerly preparing a delicious dinner, but if she was allowing those vegetables and sweetbreads to sit in a corner like that...something had to be very, _very_ wrong! The one silver lining was that nopony was injured or dead, but Shining Armor couldn't quite feel relieved.

He swallowed hard. "Mom...Dad...what's going on?"

His mother burst into tears and couldn't answer. His father sniffled and pushed the parchment on the table closer to Shining Armor.

Shining Armor picked it up and read it:

 _On behalf of Filthy Rich's Savings and Loan:_

 _We believe that your family has maliciously withheld payment for your debts longer than was strictly necessary. As such, we are invoking Section 63 of the Bankruptcy Laws-_

"BANKRUPTCY?!" Shining Armor cried. "We're ten years AHEAD on the mortgage payments! The only late payment we ever made was the last one, and it was only an _hour_ late!"

"We know," his father answered. "He's trying to steal the mineral rights to that cave from you and Twilight."

Shining Armor's face went pale. "He...he can't do that! The gems in that cave are worth at least a hundred times the value of this house; he can't take that just because we made a payment one hour late!"

Night Light shook his head. "That law was designed three hundred years ago to motivate corrupt nobles into repaying their debts, but it's still on the books. We've got twenty-four hours to pay the debt in full, or our creditors get EVERYTHING we own, including the mineral rights, and we end up on the auction block!"

"That rotten Applejack!" Twilight hissed. "I bet SHE told Filthy Rich to do this to us! She said she wished we would all end up on that auction block, and now it's going to HAPPEN!"

"Hey," Shining Armor insisted. "This can't be HER fault; I was at Sweet Apple Acres, and she came running back, crying-" he stopped himself; he was about to accuse Twilight of doing something wrong right at the moment when she needed sympathy the most. He sputtered, "She wouldn't have been crying if she were pulling off some kind of nasty plan like that!"

Twilight's eyes widened. Shining Armor just KNEW she'd realized that it was her fault the Apple family lost their stand, and swallowed hard at the thought that she was going to have guilt layered on top of the injury that this foreclosure notice had slapped her with.

But he was wrong about the source of Twilight's guilt: "I...I blabbed to the whole town while I was bragging to Applejack that we had exclusive mineral rights! Any one of Filthy Rich's employees could've heard me and told him-and if I'd just kept my snout shut, this wouldn't have HAPPENED!" Twilight joined her mother in crying her eyes out.

"Hey, hey," Shining Armor whispered, wrapping one hoof around his sister and the other around his mother. "We have twenty-four hours; we have time to get more diamonds! We can work through this!"

Twilight shook her head and sobbed back, "Even with BOTH our saddlebags full, it won't be enough to pay the mortgage off! Two ponies aren't enough to carry the diamonds we'll need, and we'll never make two trips in just 24 hours!"

Shining Armor thought for a moment... "Would _three_ ponies be enough?" he asked.

Twilight nodded. "More than enough...but Mom and Dad can't go; they have too many orders of books to fill...we'd get sued for breach of contract if they didn't fulfill those orders, and we'd be in the same boat we're in now!"

"Don't worry. I...I know of a pony we can hire to help us collect diamonds. We WILL get through this, trust me."

Twilight wiped her eyes. "Who?"

Shining Armor knew he couldn't tell her now; her day was ruined enough as it was. He just said, "Listen...you've already got enough on your mind right now, and I don't want you to worry about the details. Just...try to cheer yourself up. There's a big, fancy dinner waiting for us. Oh, and you've GOT to show Mom the new clothes you bought!"

He looked his father in the eye, and Night Light looked back. "Dad and I can make the arrangements. Just try to enjoy tonight; you've _more than_ earned it!"

Twilight smiled back at her brother. "That's the Twilight I like to see," Shining Armor said, mussing her hair with his hoof. "That's the smile I know and love-it's just like the sun after a Rainbow Mountain downpour! Keep smiling, sis. The world needs more smiles like that." He gave her a nuzzle, glad to make her forget her worries.

He turned to leave, but stopped for a moment and said, "Oh, Mom-before I forget, dessert is already on its way."

He trotted out the front door with his father. "Dad...I had to get away from Twilight to tell you a few things..."

"More bad news, son?" he asked as they walked toward Sweet Apple Acres.

"Kind of...see, Twilight...I don't know what she did, but...I guess she confronted Applejack at her family's fruit stand, and...whatever it was that Twilight did to Applejack, she ran away from the fruit stand crying."

Night Light shook his head. "Why is every mare crying today? We should all be HAPPY, that diamond cave was the discovery of your LIVES!"

"I know," Shining Armor agreed. "But that's not the worst part. Since Applejack left the stand unguarded, it was robbed."

"Oh, _no_!" Night Light groaned.

"It gets worse: Big Mackintosh has a broken leg and is bedridden, and...it's embarrassing all around, but his family couldn't afford a doctor."

"PLEASE tell me you gave them a gold coin to help!" Night Light whispered.

"I gave them two."

Night Light smiled proudly. "You're a good stallion, Shining Armor!"

He blushed. "Thanks, dad. It...felt really awkward..."

"I'll bet it did, but you did the right thing. But...why are we walking toward their farm? You're not going to ask for those coins back, are you?"

"Not in a million years. I'm going to ask them to send Applejack with Twilight and me tomorrow morning to get more diamonds."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Applejack and Twilight would be at each others' throats!"

"I'm not so sure...once Applejack finds out that her family lost out on their stand because of her, she'll feel terrible...like she needs a chance at redemption. This trip could be that chance, and since the Apple family is in financial trouble, too, they'll have a use for the leftover diamonds. And Twilight will probably feel terrible about blabbing about the mineral rights, so maybe they'll both feel guilty enough to keep quiet."

"I don't know, son. When a mare feels terrible...sometimes they take it out on other ponies. If that starts while you're on this trip..."

"I'm not sure what choice we have, Dad."

"You could hire just about any other pony in town to help with this carry, you know."

"We need somepony we can trust not to run off as soon as their bags are full. Applejack has her faults, but she's honest enough not to do that to us."

Night Light sighed. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

 _Me too_ , Shining Armor thought. He was banking a lot on the hope that both his little sister and his friend's little sister would both want redemption for the mistakes they'd made that day. He liked to think that they'd both try to be their best selves, but what if they didn't?

He pushed the thought aside as they came upon the gate into Sweet Apple Acres.

Bright Mackintosh was just inside the gate, and he took his hat off the moment he saw Shining Armor. "My wife told me about your kindness, Shining Armor. We can't thank you enough for your generosity! Right now, my biggest regret is that the pie Buttercup promised you isn't ready yet-it just went into the oven!"

Shining Armor blushed. "We're...not here about that. Actually, Dad, I'd like to talk this over with Big Mack. Can you explain the plan to Mr. Bright Mackintosh?"

Night Light nodded.

Shining Armor heard Bright Mack asking, "More bad news?" and his father answering "It's not ALL bad news..." as he trotted quietly up the stairs, trying not to disturb Mrs. Buttercup. No one met him until he reached the top of the stairs, and then he saw Big Mack with his leg in a proper cast.

Big Mackintosh looked at him and smiled. "Good news; the doctor set the bones, and I'll be good as new in six weeks!"

Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief. He thought for a moment about whether Applejack should know about his plan or not, and realized he didn't know where she was. "Have you talked to Applejack yet?"

Big Mack shook his head. "I don't think anypony's let her know about the apple stand...it'd break her heart if she knew. She's absolutely devoted to this family; she works her hooves to the bone in the fields _and_ around this barn. If she knew...especially after what Twilight put her through...I think she'd go crazy. ...I'm really worried about her."

Shining Armor licked his lips. "Where is she now?"

"Mom and Dad sent her to do some...cleaning duty. It's a sort of punishment, and a chance for her to get away from everypony else for a little while."

Shining Armor took a deep breath. "Listen...my family's in trouble, too, and...we're going to need Applejack's help..."

He explained the situation to his friend, and after hearing it, Big Mack's expression was an unreadable mix of emotions. He was silent for longer than Shining Armor felt comfortable with.

Finally, Shining Armor asked, "What do you think of the plan?"

"I...I don't know what I think of it." After a pause, Big Mack asked, "Does it matter what I think of it? I mean, do either of our families really have a choice, here?"

Shining Armor looked down. "No, we don't."

There was silence for a while, and Big Mack broke it. "Listen...there's one thing I know we have in common, and it's that we love our little sisters to death. And...well...it doesn't feel good to say this, but...but that might actually be a problem, here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...shoot, how do I explain this...? Let's imagine the whole situation was turned around: Applejack and I were explorers and had the mineral rights, and Twilight was the one coming with us. If it was me out there, I'd always want to take Applejack's side whenever she and Twilight had an argument, because...well, she's my SISTER. I think I'd love her too much to NOT take her side."

Shining Armor let out a sigh through pursed lips. "I was kind of hoping there wouldn't BE any arguments."

"What're you going to do, duct tape their mouths shut?"

Shining Armor shook his head. "Everypony needs to keep their eyes open and be on their toes when you're exploring on the mountain. They'll NEED to be able to shout out if there's danger."

"Too bad. I think we were BOTH thinking the duct tape was actually a good idea, for a minute, there!"

They both chuckled grimly.

"Shining Armor...I want you to promise me something."

"I promise I'll bring her back in one piece!" he insisted.

"It's not just that. Applejack...her devotion to hard work around here is like a religion for her. When she's sick and she'd be better off staying in bed so she can get better, we almost have to _tie her down_ to get her to keep her resting. I think she thinks that hard work is the only right way to make money, and...and the main reason she butts heads with Twilight so much is because she thinks Twilight isn't working."

"Not working?! Twilight worked her tail off for years to find that cave! We've spent years exploring the whole mountain, and years before that, she was poring over book after book to try to prove out her theory that there were caves and diamonds inside the mountain in the first place!"

"I know, but Applejack doesn't seem to count any of that as work...but...since Twilight got rich from following her philosophy of working with books and exploring, and Applejack isn't getting ahead from following her own philosophy of plain old elbowgrease on the farm...I think AJ feels like the world...well, _betrayed_ her."

"Really?"

Big Mack nodded. "And once she finds out about the apple stand...she'll feel worse than ever. I'm really, really worried about her. I mean..." he swallowed hard. With a wavering voice, he managed to squeak out the words: "There's...all those _cliffs_ on the mountain...!"

"It's only slippery when it's raining, and the sun dries everything out a few minutes after the rain stops. She won't slip off with us guiding her."

Big Mack swallowed hard again and his face went pale. He was reluctant to come to the point, but with tears in his eyes, he slowly got the words out: "It's...not her _slipping_ that worries me..."

Shining Armor went a little pale, himself.

Big Mack continued, "About to the whole love-our-sisters-to-death thing...please, promise me that, if and when Applejack and Twilight get in a fight, you won't take Twilight's side. I'm just really worried that something Twilight says might push Applejack over the edge, and..."

"I promise," Shining Armor said. It felt like the natural thing to say here and now while standing in Big Mack's room, but he realized the moment after he said it that it was NOT going to be easy to not take his beloved sister's side. But...he didn't want to hurt his best friend's sister, and he definitely didn't want to add another horrible tragedy to the Apple family's already-formidable list.

He'd do his best. That much, he knew.


	3. Chapter 3

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

It had been an emotional roller-coaster for everypony that evening. The thanks that Buttercup had showered on Shining Armor as she'd brought a fresh masterpiece pie had made him blush, and Twilight had grinned uncomfortably, knowing that she'd given her gold coin in cruelty while Shining Armor had given his two with genuine charity. The contrast didn't look good to anypony, but Buttercup either didn't know about the coin Twilight had given to Applejack, or else she was kind or polite enough not to bring it up.

Applejack, for her part, could hardly be torn away from working like crazy. She seemed to have an inkling that she'd done something very, very wrong by not being at the stall, but her family had made the decision not to tell her about the theft, knowing she was already feeling absolutely _terrible_. Bright Mack and Buttercup had to both come and insist that she stop working and eat to get her to stop her nigh-ritualistic shoveling of chicken manure into buckets.

She cleaned herself up from the filthy work and showed up at the dinner table just in time for her carrot stew to be cold. She tried to take only a half-portion of it and began to eat in furious silence, but her mother insisted she take the full portion, that she'd need her strength for the work tomorrow. Reluctantly, Applejack ate the whole thing and then went up into the bed she shared with Big Mack, feeling insulted, babied, bullied, and betrayed...though these feelings weren't quite articulate enough for her to feel angry at anypony except Twilight.

Twilight's emotional roller-coaster took a nosedive minutes after she crawled into the bed she'd shared with Shining Armor since she was a toddler. As she often did whenever she'd had a nightmare or an especially horrible fight with Applejack, she found herself cradled in her brother's arms, sobbing into his shoulder. "It's all my fault!" she whimpered.

Shining Armor rested her head against his cheek and whispered, "We don't know that for sure. If he had spies in the courthouse, he might've known we had those mineral rights long before that argument."

She kept crying, and Shining Armor let her.

Applejack was a little more reluctant to cry on Big Mack's shoulder, until he assured her that his broken leg was safely set in its cast, and it wouldn't hurt him to be touched. When she finally found herself in his embrace, she found she was all out of tears.

He wondered...should he tell her now about how the stand was ransacked? ...If he did, he could tell her that Shining Armor paid for the damage...which was _sort of_ true; his two gold coins had paid the two months' mortgage for the farm, his medical bills, and there was just barely enough to pay for another cashbox with change in it. While Shining Armor had given him the coins before the news came back that the stand had been robbed, it was close enough to the truth, and Applejack would need to have a forgiving attitude tomorrow...

"Hey...Applejack?"

Applejack grunted in response.

"Listen...the reason I have this cast...the reason Mom and Dad could afford to pay for a doctor...is because Shining Armor...he shared some of the loot from his find."

"That was nice of him," Applejack said neutrally.

Big Mack hesitated a moment, then added, "He also paid for the losses...from the stand..."

"You mean how I wasn't there?"

"Yes, but...listen, I don't want you to feel bad about this; Shining Armor has already paid for it, but...while you were away, the stand...well, it got robbed."

Applejack stiffened. She said nothing for a long time. Finally, she hissed, "I bet TWILIGHT robbed it!"

Big Mack let out a sound of exasperation. "Twilight wouldn't do THAT!" he insisted.

Back at the treehome, Twilight had run out of tears and sputtered, "I STILL think it was Applejack that told Filthy Rich about the mineral rights!"

Shining Armor shook his head. "That can't be how it happened, Twilight...I was at Sweet Apple Acres when she came back crying her eyes out."

"You weren't there at the market. You didn't hear how NASTY she was to me! She _actually said_ she hoped our _whole family_ would end up on the auction block!"

Shining Armor hugged his sister a little tighter. "Sometimes...we all say terrible things that we don't really mean."

"Oh, she meant it. I got her back _good_ , though."

"Hey...hey..." Shining Armor said, trying to sound disapproving, but only sounding like he was trying to console her. "Revenge? Please, tell me you didn't go _there_! You're a better mare than that!"

"Shining Armor!" she scolded. "She's a complete _jerkface_! Somepony _has_ to take her down a peg!"

Shining Armor wanted his sister to see the good that was in AJ, just like he and Big Mack were able to. The only thing he could think of to say was "...Maybe Applejack thinks she has good reasons to take you down a peg, too..."

Twilight was taken aback. "YOU don't think she did, do you?"

Shining Armor reflexively said "No, of course not!" After a pause, he added, "I'm just trying to...well, get you to think about what the whole thing looks like from her perspective."

Twilight scoffed. "Her perspective is just plain WRONG!"

"Even if it is...it's seeing how the world looks through another pony's eyes that lets you understand why they are who they are, why they act the way they act...it might be harder for you two to hate each other if you two just...tried to understand each other."

After a few moments of silence, Shining Armor asked, "I'm not sure I want to know, but...what exactly did you do to Applejack? Did just seeing the mineral rights make her run away crying?"

Twilight was silent for a few moments. "I rubbed it in her face by asking if she had change for one of my gold coins when I bought an apple. And when she didn't, I patted her on the head and told her to keep the change."

Shining Armor was taken aback. "You...paid for one apple with a gold coin?" He was debating in his head whether to add _You spent ten weeks' worth of a pony's wages_ _ **just**_ _to make_ _ **her miserable**_ _?_ In the end, he decided not to. Twilight was miserable enough as it is, and he didn't want to make things worse. Especially since things were going to get worse, much worse, in the morning.

At that very moment, Applejack was making that very accusation. "You know what the worst part is?" Applejack asked.

Big Mack asked, "The fact that you left it there and it got stolen?"

"No, there's something even worse than that...if I told Mom and Dad about that coin, you know what they'd say? They'd say Twilight was being generous, and I was being ungrateful."

Big Mack said nothing; his first thought was to defend his best friend's sister by pointing out that Shining Armor was VERY generous, and apparently she read his mind on this:

"Maybe Shining Armor really was being generous when he gave you those two gold coins...but generosity had NOTHING to do with what Twilight did. She thinks spending a gold coin is worth it to make me _miserable_! And you know what?"

Big Mack gulped. "What?"

"I'm GLAD that coin got stolen! It's better than taking a handout from a jerkface like her!"

"Don't say that, Applejack...! Especially not in front of Mom and Dad; they're afraid...and rightfully so. The next mortgage payment is coming up, and even though we've paid the back payments and late fees for the last two months, Mom and Dad probably aren't going to make the next payment, unless..."

"Unless they get a handout from a jerkface?"

Big Mack was silent. He couldn't tell Applejack about the plan; she needed her sleep so she'd be alert for that carry, and there's no way she'd be able to sleep knowing that she'd need to travel for the better part of a day with Twilight, the one mare she hated most in the world. Finally, he said "Listen...you're going to have a big day ahead of you tomorrow...try to get some sleep. ...I want you to know just one thing. No matter how much you screw up, I love you unconditionally. Mom and Dad do, too, even if they have to ask you to do unpleasant things or put up with unpleasant ponies. They still love you."

Shining Armor, at that moment was giving about the same speech to his own sister: "Even if you've done some cruel things...you're a part of this family. And I'm still glad you're here. Now...try to get to sleep; we'll need our rest to tackle Rainbow Mountain in the morning."

"Good night, big bro."

"Good night, big bro."

"Good night, sis."

"Good night, sis."

Everypony was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. There was a grand breakfast of sunny-side-up eggs and orange juice and buttered toast and fresh milk and cinnamon oatmeal and yarrow flowers waiting for Twilight, all of which was an extra-special treat-money had always been so tight that she often never got any breakfast at all (unless you counted grazing on the mountain), and if she did get breakfast, it was usually plain hay. But not _this_ time!

Twilight Velvet had the foresight to send a portion of these ingredients to the Sweet Apple Acres farm as well, so that they'd be able to give Applejack a grand breakfast, too, to keep her spirits as high as possible...she'd need them, and both families knew it. At first, Applejack was reluctant to eat such a meal, but Buttercup insisted, "Applejack...I want you to know that, even though you made a mistake when you ran away from our fruit stand, we still love you _very_ much. And you've got a big day ahead of you, and you're going to need your strength for it." Applejack's stomach growled, and she relented and ate.

With a full belly, Twilight was about to head upstairs to pack her bags for the trip, but her parents and Shining Armor stopped her.

"Dear," Twilight Velvet began, "There's something... _unpleasant_ that we need to talk about. You should sit down."

Twilight swallowed hard. "Mom, I know what's at stake and that we might end up on the auction block; if we're going to talk about the consequences of-"

"No," Night Light interrupted, "The less we talk, or even _think_ about that, the better...it's something else."

At that very moment, Big Mack, Bright Mackintosh, and Buttercup were sitting Applejack down for a talk. Applejack started: "I know what I did was wrong...even if I couldn't stop from crying, even if I couldn't attract a single customer, I should've at least stayed and guarded the cashbox and the apples we'd already harvested. I'm sorry." She sniffled back a tear. "I want you all to know that I love you all very much, and I'm grateful _forever_ to this family for showing me all this love, right at the moment I least deserve it."

Buttercup hugged her daughter. "Even if it _is_ the time you least deserve it, it's the time you most _need_ it. And our love for you is unconditional, even if we have to ask you to do unpleasant things."

Applejack swallowed hard and declared, "If I could walk through Tartarus to make it all up to this family, I'd do it!"

At this, tears sparkled in all their eyes. They tried to think how to say what was coming next...

Night Light took a deep breath, then said, "We've found a pony we can depend on to help you and Shining Armor carry diamonds back from your cave. She's responsible, a hard worker, very strong, and we can trust her not to try to steal anything from you." After a pause, he added, "It's...Applejack."

Twilight's jaw dropped at the exact same moment Applejack's jaw dropped. "HER?!" they both shouted in unison. "But she's a complete _jerkface_!"

Twilight balked. "Isn't there ANY other pony we can hire for this?!"

Shining Armor shook his head. "Every pony in Ponyville is either crushed under debt, working for Filthy Rich, or both. They'd be either desperate enough to try to steal the diamonds, or they'd be paid to steal them from us. Applejack's different; she's _religiously_ devoted to her family. She'd NEVER abandon them, and she'd have to leave town if she stole the diamonds we're having her carry for us. And you know Mom and Dad can't come."

Applejack swallowed hard, her huge breakfast having turned to stones in her stomach. "I know we need the money...and I realize I've done wrong and deserve to be punished, but...but sending me on a day-trip with _Twilight Sparkle_? That's WAY too much punishment! Dad, can't you go with them, instead?"

He shook his head. "We've put off planting the winter wheat too long already; I HAVE to plow the fields _today_!"

"Let ME plow them, Daddy!"

"You're not big enough for the yoke, honey!"

Applejack turned to her mother, but she was already shaking her head. "Applejack...I can't be the one to go, either...I'm...pregnant!"

Applejack's face turned white for a moment at the thought of her family, down on its luck with one less worker, behind on its mortgage, and suddenly with a _baby_ to feed! "So..." she said, angrily, "The trip up Rainbow Mountain is just dangerous enough so a pregnant mare can't go, and at the same time, just _safe_ enough so _I_ can go...is _that_ it?"

Buttercup looked down at the ground, then after a pause, nodded gently.

"But...but..." Applejack sputtered. "It's too dangerous on that mountain! There's cliffs, and...and we could get lost and-"

"Twilight has the mountain mapped front-to-back, and she and her brother have been exploring it for _years_ ," Bright Mack pointed out. "You couldn't ASK for better guides than them, and Shining Armor promised to bring you back in one piece."

Applejack kept making excuses: "It rains like a howling banshee on that mountain! You can't go mountain-climbing on that mountain unless you've got a raincoat, and I don't own one!"

Bright Mackintosh handed her an already-packed set of saddlebags and opened a flap, showing her a large coat inside it. "You'll be taking my old duster, Sugarcube."

Applejack stared for a moment, then squirmed. In desperation, she shouted, "There's GOT to be another way!"

"There's GOT to be another way!" Twilight howled at her parents and at Shining Armor. "You weren't there when we had our fight at the farmer's market! She saw a pony from our graduating class on the auction block for bankruptcy, then she said, TO MY FACE, that she'd laugh when all four of us end up there! She even said that about _Shining Armor_ , her _own brother's best friend_! And THIS is the pony we're trusting to help us _avoid_ that?!"

Shining Armor insisted, "Applejack...it's one of her faults that, when she gets upset, she says awful things that she doesn't really mean."

Applejack snorted. Furious and sulking, she slung the saddlebags over her back, glaring at her family. "Fine!" she spat. "But I hope I get eaten by a grizzly bear when I'm out there!"

"We KNOW you don't mean that, honey," Bright Mack insisted, looping his cowboy-hat's strings around Applejack's neck and resting the hat on her shoulders.

"Oh, _yes I do_!" Applejack shouted back. "Being dead's WAY better than spending time with a pony who's willing to spend ten weeks of a pony's wages just to make ME feel terrible!" Applejack was breathing hard and didn't know how her family would react to what she'd just said, so she kept talking: "I know Shining Armor gave us two gold coins, and I'll admit maybe what HE did was generous. But Twilight tried to give me a gold coin to pay for an apple, and maybe you think she was being generous, too, but I absolutely KNOW she just did it to show off how rich she was to make me miserable!" She began to storm off, but just before she reached the door, she added over her shoulder, "And THAT'S the kind of pony you're asking me to travel with! ...I'm walking through _Tartarus_ for this family, all right!"

She slammed the door behind her and bolted for Night Light's bookbinding workshop without looking back, trying her best not to cry.

It became much, much easier to avoid crying when she saw Twilight and Shining Armor stepping out of their parents' treehome. She stiffened herself and gave Twilight a steely glare, determined not to let her archenemy see her cry again. Twilight returned her gaze.

Shining Armor looked at both their faces, then swallowed hard. He'd need to find some way to get these two to NOT fight, and that wasn't looking like an easy task...maybe not even a possible one. He cleared his throat, and neither mare took her eyes off her rival. "Hey-we're out here to get diamonds, not to have a staring contest!" he sputtered, nervously chuckling a little. Still no reaction.

Finally, he decided to put himself between their gazes, and said, looking back and forth between them as he said it, "Listen...I know you don't like each other at all, and I don't know why. But the 'why' doesn't matter...not one bit; both our families NEED us to do this."

Now both mares were staring at him, though less harshly. That's at least a LITTLE progress, he thought to himself. He continued, "We...need to set some ground rules. First of all, if neither of you starts a fight, there won't BE a fight, and that's what's best for all of us. So: no talking to each other, unless it's something important that'll either help us get the diamonds, or something that'll keep us all safer on this trip. Twilight, do you understand this rule?"

Her eyes widened with surprise: her brother was starting off by trying to hold _HER_ back? She was so shocked, she didn't answer.

"Twilight, I need you to focus, here!" Shining Armor insisted. "I don't like laying down rules on you like this, but I promised Big Mackintosh I wouldn't take sides if you fight, so it's important that you and Applejack _don't fight_! Do it for me, if you can't do it for yourself! Come on, now Twilight-do you understand the rule? No talking unless it's to help get the diamonds or to keep us safe!"

Twilight was very flustered, but she managed to say, "I get it."

Shining Armor turned to Applejack. "Do you understand the first ground rule? No talking unless it's to help get the diamonds or to keep us all safe?"

She rolled her eyes, but answered, "I get it. Any other ground rules?"

Shining Armor thought there had to be more; he had expected he'd think of them as his initial pep-talk continued. But he suddenly realized he couldn't think of any offhand. Then he thought of one, and gave voice to it: "Don't throw things at each other."

Applejack's eyebrow went up. "What would we even _throw_ at each other up there?"

"Knowing you, your own manure," Twilight snarked.

"TWILIGHT!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "We're not even off Mom and Dad's property, and you're already breaking rule number one?! Do you WANT this trip to be like walking through Tartarus for ALL THREE of us?!"

Twilight became flustered again. "No, I-"

"Then don't SAY things like that! ...Ground rule number three: you need to apologize SINCERELY if you can't control yourself and break another ground rule!"

Twilight balked.

"She can't do it, Shining Armor," Applejack insisted. "I know you're trying, but she can't do it."

"Applejack!" Shining Armor scolded.

"I'm not saying this to try to make this worse for either of you," Applejack stubbornly kept saying, "But it's how it is, and we all know it. I'd like to propose one more ground-rule, and no, it's not an insult, and it's not to start a fight: if a grizzly bear eats me, then come back later to the mountain and leave it some honey as a thank-you present."

"Sure thing," Twilight snarked.

One look from Shining Armor made her resolve not to say more. He angrily growled at her, " _Ground. Rule._ _ **One**_ _!_ "

This was a whole new experience for Twilight; she'd never had a fight with Shining Armor before in her life, and didn't know how to react to his...hostility!

"Oh, come now, Applejack, we all know you don't MEAN that!" a new voice crooned. Silver Spoon had walked up behind Applejack and gently slapped her on the back, right about where her saddlebags were resting.

Shining Armor looked at this newcomer. "Who are you?"

"My name is Silver Spoon; I'm vice-president of operations for the Filthy Rich Savings and Loan office. And I'm here to issue an apology to your family for the paperwork mishap," she explained.

"' _Paperwork mishap_?'" Twilight asked, her eyebrow up. "Is THAT what your office calls it when a family is in danger of losing everything they own and being separated forever?!"

" _Forever_? Oh, no-no-no; indentures only last for a few years!"

Applejack scowled. "What's to stop an indenture-owner from changing the papers and turning 10 years into 100? The indentured pony doesn't have a right to sue, you know!"

"Girls!" Shining Armor interrupted. "We should hear what she has to say, here!"

"You can't tell me you trust anypony who works for Filthy Rich!" Twilight hissed. Shining Armor did something he'd never done before, and put his hoof over her mouth. Twilight was stunned into silence.

Silver Spoon smiled in a mix of amusement and diplomacy, and explained, "There was a typographical error about your family's payment previous to their last payment, and it came back marked as being a year late instead of an hour late. Surely you know how a badly-written O can look like a lowercase E, or a badly-written U can look like a lowercase A? And Y is a lowercase H upside-down?"

Shining Armor resisted the urge to roll his eyes at a lesson as elementary as the shape of letters. Applejack and Twilight did not. "So...are you withdrawing the use of Section 63? Because that'd be absolutely terrific news, right about now...and...let's be honest, here: withdrawing Section 63 is about the only REAL way to apologize that I can think of! Even without Section 63, the bank _will_ get its money back from us within a few days."

Silver Spoon's smile widened, but her eyes didn't reflect her mouth's smile. "I'm afraid that Section 63 bankruptcy proceedings can't be withdrawn until and unless the debt is paid in full in the time allotted. However, it IS at our discretion to provide you with additional time, which we have elected to do. Instead of 24 hours to pay that debt back, you now have 72 hours."

Applejack's face brightened a bit. "If 24 hours is enough time for a round-trip to that cave, then 72 hours is enough time for _three_. You two don't need me after all, do you?"

"Nope! You can go right on home and toss your manure at things!" Twilight declared.

"And you can go on up your mountain and play in the rain while SOME ponies do some _REAL_ work!" Applejack spat. She turned around and began to trot back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Silver Spoon's face showed alarm for a brief moment, and she suddenly stood in Applejack's way. "Now-now, isn't your family expecting you to come back with half a load of diamonds for _them_? Won't they be disappointed when you come back so soon, empty-hoofed?"

"Not as disappointed as I was being told to do this," Applejack growled, trying to go around Silver Spoon.

"Ah, but this could be a wonderful bonding experience with your new friend Twilight Sparkle!"

Applejack looked at her like she was crazy. "She is _so_ not my friend, and you _know_ it! The only _bonding_ experience I want with her is to superglue her to a tree and leave her there," she answered, still not ceasing to move her hooves.

Shining Armor shouted after Applejack, "If the storms are bad enough on the mountain, we might not have time to make two trips...and the storms are unpredictable! And if we lose the mineral rights...well, the point is, this could be your family's only chance at those diamonds!"

Applejack thought it over very reluctantly.

Twilight hissed to Shining Armor, "It's a risk _I'm_ willing to take!"

Shining Armor calmly, but firmly answered, "Well, I'm not. We're talking about rolling the dice with the fate of our _family_!"

While they were debating, Silver Spoon suddenly became much, much less diplomatic, and while the expression on her face might technically be called a smile, it was a smile like a wolf might have as it was closing in on a deer. She quietly hissed to Applejack, "Go on this trip with them, or I'll invoke Section 63 on YOUR family, and then YOU will end up on the auction block, yourselves-and your injured brother, too!"

Applejack's face whitened at the thought of Big Mackintosh, injured with nopony to take care of him, put on an auction block where nopony would buy him...

Silver Spoon struck while the iron was hot: "Tell nopony I issued this threat; if you do, section 63. You are going with them _because of the risks in the weather_. Capice?"

Applejack swallowed hard and galloped back to Twilight and Shining Armor: however awful Twilight was, she WASN'T threatening her family, and for once, that made her better than another pony in her mind. She panickingly sputtered, "Shining Armor's right; we can't risk our families. I'll be good, I swear! Let's just get the diamonds and get this over with!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Applejack's sudden submissiveness. For his part, Shining Armor was just breathing a sigh of relief, and he decided not to look this gifthorse in the mouth.

"Okay...another ground rule: Twilight goes first, then I go, then Applejack follows behind."

Applejack muttered, "Fine. The less I see of that mare's fat, lazy-"

Shining Armor cut her off. "First of all, what happened to your promise to be good? Second, ground rule one, remember?"

Applejack sucked her lips into her mouth and bit them, trembling a little. Shining Armor took that as a sign she was done talking, so he just followed Twilight as she trotted along the trail they'd tracked up the mountain.

Silver Spoon smiled and walked back to Filthy Rich's office. "Delivery successful," she told him. "I gave them an extra 48 hours, but that won't make any difference."

He turned his enormous, throne-like chair around and smiled at her. "Good. It's always nice to put a little spin of kindness on what I do now and then, and, as you say, it won't make any difference-only a difference in 48 hours that I'll need to wait to get those mineral rights, and you can't be a pony of business without patience."

His smile widened. "This is one of the reasons why I keep all of Ponyville under my hoof with these mortgages: I can make any one of their discoveries or treasures _mine_ with just one little piece of paper. They find gold nuggets in the stream behind the shed? Section 63, and it's all mine. One of them discovers a magic formula worth mass-producing? Section 63, and it's all mine. One of them turns out to have a priceless heirloom? Section 63, and it's mine. And I made sure there isn't a _single thing_ they can do about it- _that_ , my dear Silver Spoon, is how you _win_."

Silver Spoon smirked. "Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if they _hadn't_ made the payment an hour late?"

He smirked back. "And what makes you think _that_ situation could ever have happened? I told the bank manager to have his employees work slowly that day."

Silver Spoon's eyes bulged. "How could you have known that you'd need _this one family_ to make a late payment so that you could invoke Section 63?"

"I didn't. I wasn't targeting any _one_ family; I like to have as many families with late payments as I can, so as to keep my options as open as possible. _That_ ," he added, "Is _also_ how you win."


	4. Chapter 4

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

The mountain air was clearer and breezier than Applejack had expected it to be, and while it was cooler, she was also doing more work, carrying saddlebags half-full of exploration gear, so she didn't feel cold at all. Nor did she feel too hot, which surprised her a little.

After a few minutes of hiking uphill, Shining Armor stopped the expedition for a moment and gestured for Applejack turn around and look at the town. Applejack's jaw dropped at the view. "It...it all looks so _small_ from up here!"

"I remember the first time Twilight and I caught this view," Shining Armor smiled. For a moment, he frowned, as if remembering something awful, but soon his smile came back. "One of the perks of exploring this mountain is the view you get from it."

After a few minutes of resting and drinking in the sight, they moved on. For hours, nopony said anything, which was a fact for which all three of them were grateful-Twilight and Applejack because they expected the worst from each other, Shining Armor because he didn't want to have to shut his sister down again.

After a little while, Applejack broke the silence: "What are we going to do about lunch?"

Shining Armor answered "If you're hungry, you can just graze. There's plenty of well-watered greens on this mountain."

Applejack's stomach growled. "That doesn't sound much like a meal!"

"Maybe not to _you_ ," Twilight observed. "But _some_ of us made some actual _sacrifices_ to get what we have!"

Shining Armor hissed, "Twilight! Ground rule one!"

"She needs to know this-how many years did you and I eat only wild grass so that Mom and Dad didn't have to buy us food? How many years did _she_ spend porking out at her cozy little dinner table at her nice, food-filled farm, while you and I were munching on wildflowers and wet grass up here in the pouring rain?"

"Twilight!" Shining Armor groaned. "You think I LIKE telling you to quit talking!? I'm trying to-"

Applejack interrupted him. "Well, maybe if you two had stuck close to home and helped your parents by doing REAL work, binding books for your parents' _paying customers_ , you'd have been dryer and better-fed! It sure worked for _me_! Why, I even got an allowance when the seasons were kind to us, which _was_ most of the time!"

Shining Armor howled, "Applejack! You're FIGHTING! This isn't what Big Mackintosh would _want_!"

They both ignored Shining Armor and closed in on each other to go face-to-face.

Twilight got defensive. "You want _real work_? How about the YEARS I spent doing research to prove out that there are caves under this mountain? Proving that only the ley-resonance of the rainbow diamonds could possibly conjure all the rain that this mountain gets when the air for hundreds of miles is normally _dry_?! Proving that it takes airflow that's out of the sunlight in order to form rainbow diamonds, proving there are _caves full of diamonds_ that have an _actual entrance_ in this mountain? And don't you _dare_ forget: I DID help out in the book-binding shop so I could get money to buy the books for that all research in the _first place_!"

Applejack spat over the side of the mountain. "And for all those years with your nose stuck in a book instead of helping your family _bind_ books, for all those years tramping around the mountain, tell me: how much of your so-called ' _ **work**_ ' really _helped_ your family?"

Shining Armor tried to get between the two feuding mares and push them apart with his hooves. "Listen-both of you! Everypony in Ponyville who isn't one of Filthy Rich's high-ranking lackeys is doing their best to make a living while Mr. Filthy turns _their_ hard work into silver in _his_ vaults!" he insisted. "We _all_ have different strategies for dealing with it, and those strategies can succeed or fail by luck as easily as they can by skill or by smarts. I mean, the wind blowing the silo over and injuring Big Mack-that was just plain bad luck, and it could've just as easily been a cave-in or a rockslide that left ME with a broken leg! And us finding an entrance to the cave that's big enough for ponies to get inside- _that's_ luck, too! It was good luck, but still-we could've ended up finding out that the only entrances to the cave are three inches across and impossible to dig into!"

He turned to Twilight. "There may be hard facts in science," then he turned to Applejack, "And you may know a lot of hard facts about what working hard on your farm can and _has_ done for you AND your family, but _none_ of that changes the fact that science and hard work are both _strategies_ at the end of the day! Either one can succeed or fail thanks to _luck_! You're both treating your strategies like they're hard facts...like...like they're as _guaranteed_ to work as two and two making four, but they're _not_! So stop bickering with each other! Let's just stay quiet, keep going, and get those diamonds and help our families _before anything else happens_!"

At this point, both mares began verbally tearing into Shining Armor. They were screaming so loudly, and at the same time, that he could hardly pick out any words at all from either of their rants. Even though he was taller than them, this made him feel intimidated-and not least in his reasons was that he wasn't used to _Twilight_ getting _mad_ at him! He began to understand why she kept giving him looks of dumbfounded shock whenever he tried to stop her from fighting.

The poor stallion had no idea how to stop them, and while it occurred to him for a moment that, while they were yelling at _him_ , they at least weren't yelling at _each other_ , he couldn't quite bring himself to count this torrent of incomprehensible complaining as a victory.

After several seconds of shouting, Shining Armor howled at the top of his lungs, "Could this day get any worse!?" A thunderclap answered him, and the shouting immediately stopped as his sister and Applejack began rooting in their bags for their raingear.

"Well, that answers _my_ question," Shining Armor mumbled. "That was downright _cliché!_ " He reached into his bag and pulled out the one-piece rainsuit he'd upgraded to, sliding all four of his legs into their sleeves one-at-a-time, pulling the billed hood over his mane, snapping the face-protecting flap into place, and finally zipping the belly up just as the first few drops began to splatter down onto him.

His sister was much quicker to get her own waterproof cape on and up and over her saddlebags. It was all one piece, but was almost more like a large, shiny, red, waterproof blanket-with-a-hood than it was like clothing; it was very spacious and warm underneath, and it clasped together in the front and had drawstrings on the hood that Twilight tugged lightly to keep her head dry and warm.

Applejack wasn't used to wearing raingear or even clothing at all, so she had quite a bit of difficulty getting her father's duster on. She'd never had to deal with sleeves before, and the rain was already a steady patter by the time she'd gotten her hooves through both sleeves and her father's hat on her head-her fur was already a bit damp.

Shining Armor explained to Applejack, "Here-you stand next to me on one side, and Twilight will stand on the other side so that the three of us can share a little body heat. Try not to move your feet from the spot where you're standing-" Twilight shuddered audibly as Shining Armor said this, but he paused only for a moment before continuing: "The rocks under your feet will be the only dry rocks, and your hooves can only get a grip on dry rocks-you do NOT want to slip and fall when you're this high up! And turn your back toward the wind so that the rain ends up running down your back instead of running down into your collar."

"You've got _your_ face to the wind," Applejack pointed out.

It was impossible to see anything except Shining Armor's eyes, but the sight of his eyes told Applejack he was smiling proudly. "That's because I splurged on a rainsuit that protects my face. While you two lovely ladies are sheltering with you backs to the storm, I'll face it head-on and keep an eye out for danger!"

Twilight giggled, seemingly having forgotten all about the argument she'd been having with her brother. "My _hero_! That's why he's called _Shining Armor_!"

He chuckled back. "That's right: one lone stallion, braving the elements, standing vigilant against the wrath of the storm-ACK!"

"What's wrong?" Twilight and Applejack asked at the same time.

"Nothing...a big raindrop just got me right in the eye, that's all."

Twilight and Applejack both giggled, but then they made eye contact with each other, and their smiles faded into scowls. Then they both looked away.

Meanwhile, the storm got worse and worse. The raindrops got bigger and colder, and the wind was calm one second, then lashing with a ferocity Applejack had never seen the next. Applejack felt a huge, cold drop splatter on her nose. She wiggled her nose-it almost felt like she'd been punched. She grit her teeth at the feel of the drop running down her chin and moistening her chest-fur. She looked up at the brim of her father's hat, and realized there was a large cutout in the front. While she thought that cutout made the hat handsome, it also made it terrible at protecting the wearer's nose.

"I hope _that_ doesn't happen again," Applejack quietly muttered to herself. Cue another drop splattering her on the nose. And another. And more in rapid succession as the wind seemed to take a rest and allowed the rain to pour straight down. Applejack gagged; no amount of nose-wiggling or nose-wrinkling could do anything about the continuous tapping against her poor, unprotected snout. It was as if some inconsiderate, otherworldly creature with cold fingers had an irresistible urge to tap her nose, and wouldn't stop no matter how annoying it was for her.

She tilted her head down to try to give her nose better protection, only to find that tilting her head down lifted the brim of her hat off of her neck and exposed her neck to the downpour. It felt especially cold against her skin after her neck had been used to being sheltered and warm for so long; she let out a gagging yelp and tilted her head back to where it was before...once again allowing the rain to splatter on her nose. She let out a cry of exasperation.

"Ground rule one, Applejack!" Shining Armor reminded her.

"I can't HELP it!" she screamed, "And it's got nothing to DO with Twilight, either! It's this awful RAIN! If I keep my head level, it rains down on my nose. If I tilt my head forward to stop it raining down on my nose, my _neck_ gets soaked!"

Twilight, who'd been enjoying this spectacle without Applejack even knowing about it, chimed in "It's too bad you don't have a nice warm waterproof cloak, isn't it?"

Applejack scowled at Twilight, but the second after she did, her expression changed again as another deluge of drops relentlessly splattered against her nose. Twilight was absolutely _delighted_ , and it was fortunate that Applejack was far too distracted to notice.

Shining Armor began apologizing, "Sorry about this, Applejack...I wish we'd thought to buy you a better rain poncho, or even a rainsuit like this one I'm wearing. Heck, we could even have let you use the poncho _I_ was wearing until I upgraded to this suit-it's hanging on a peg at home..."

Applejack screamed in frustration. "I swear, if this ends with me getting even a LITTLE share of money after all our bills are paid, I am going STRAIGHT to the outfitters and buying a HUGE rainhat with a brim that DOESN'T have a huge hole in it! AND a rainsuit that covers my NOSE!" She shuddered and whined as more and more drops kept splattering against her snoot, and there was nothing she could DO about it!

Twilight finally started to feel a little sorry for Applejack, and suggested, "Maybe that duster would work better if you turned the collars up?"

Applejack again scowled at Twilight, but did what she suggested. It made things worse for the first minute or so, as the side of the collar that was now pressed against Applejack's fur had been exposed to the storm before, and was drenched and cold. But at least the turned-up collar protected her neck from any other drops that would fall onto it, and that allowed her to tilt her head down and protect her poor nose from the awful weather.

Instead of trickling down her chin and adding to the wetness of her already-drenched chest-fur, the wetness on her nose collected into an icy drop. Applejack spat, trying to get the drop to fall off her poor frozen nose, already.

Twilight apparently took that spit as either an insult against her or an invitation to insult Applejack, as the next time AJ glanced in her direction, Twilight's face was twisted into a look that reminded Applejack of caricatures of hillbillies.

She scowled for a moment, then decided to return fire with a face of her own: she stuck her teeth out to look like dorky buck teeth and made her eyes as huge as she could.

Twilight crossed her eyes and flared her nostrils and blew out through them, as if to say "This is how you blow your nose!"

AJ shot back with a look that screamed "lazy!"

Twilight's expression returned, "Bumpkin!"

"Weasel!"

"Dimwit!"

"Beaver!"

"Drooler!"

"Are you two MAKING FACES at each other?!" Shining Armor asked.

There was a brief pause for a moment. Then, all at once, " _No_!" "Not me!" "Not us!" "No way!" It was almost the first time they'd ever agreed on anything.

Twilight hastily added, "Well, maybe _Applejack_ is making faces at _me_ ," to which Applejack scowled and stuck out her tongue, only for a cold raindrop to land on it and make her quickly withdraw it. Twilight suppressed the urge to giggle, turned her head the other way, and continued as innocently as she could, "I wouldn't know what Applejack's doing with HER face; my hood completely blocks my sight of it!"

Applejack made a strike of opportunity and grabbed the drawstrings of Twilight's hood with her teeth and yanked as hard as she could, completely closing Twilight's hood around her snout-which was now exposed to the rain and getting tapped as relentlessly as Applejack's nose had been. Twilight groaned and shuddered.

"That's it, I'm keeping you two separated," Shining Armor growled.

"How?" they asked in unison.

In response, Shining Armor raised his waterproofed tail to act as a barrier between them. "Problem. Solved," he flatly declared.

Without the fight to occupy their attention, both mares quickly became bored. Twilight brushed the rainwater off her nose and withdrew her head into the main part of her cape, and slid her journal, bracelet, and pen out of her saddlebags, and began to write.

Applejack hadn't brought anything to keep her entertained, and could only think, _Why are we up here in this awful weather? Why would_ _ **anypony**_ _come up here, just for a bunch of shiny_ _ **rocks**_ _?!_

She finally asked, "Listen...this isn't for starting a fight, it's just a question...what is it that makes these rainbow diamonds so valuable in the first place?"

Twilight answered. "They're useful for jewelry, and since they're rare (or at least they _were_ until Shining Armor and I made this discovery), jewelry made from them costs a _lot_. But they've also got magic inside them that can be used to power up some important devices in factories in big cities.

"But there's a _secret_ use for them, too," Twilight added, her tone taking on a note of pride. "Shining Armor found an old, old book buried in a chest on this mountain, and after I translated a few pages (and even _that_ took _months!_ ), I found it had a magic spell in it!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Magic? _Seriously_? What do you think you are, a _unicorn_?"

Twilight rolled her eyes back. "All you do is hold the diamond in your hooves while saying the spell, and it breaks the diamond to pieces, but it also takes you to another world. The spell is:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_  
 _Through airless space be safely hurled_  
 _My party to another world!_

"And it doesn't just work with rainbow diamonds, either. Which gem you're holding determines which world you go to. A rainbow diamond will get you to Unicornia. A star emerald would get you to Cumuland, where the pegasus ponies live. A mountain ruby would get you back here."

Applejack snickered. "I might not be as into books as you are, but even _I_ know mountain rubies are the rarest gems _ever_. We all know that only royalty _ever_ get their hooves on mountain rubies! And it takes one of _those_ just to get back here?!" She shook her head. "No wonder you never tried using any diamond you found to go to Unicornia!"

Twilight smiled. "Someday, we will. I know we've found the biggest find of our lives, but...well, I don't want to _stop_ exploring! And exploring new worlds that earth ponies almost never get to set foot on-that'd be an _awesome_ next step!"

"That _does_ sound awesome," Applejack agreed. "The thought of having millions of miles between you and me-"

Shining Armor cut them off. "Ladies, you two are perfectly capable of having civil conversions with each other-you _really are_! I wasn't enforcing ground rule one all this time because I believed you were actually starting to be civil to each other. But if you can't be, don't even open your mouths. Either of you."

The storm slowly began to lighten. Twilight put her journal back in her bag and stood up again.

"Don't try to move until the sun dries the rocks off," Shining Armor advised Applejack. "It usually only takes a few minutes-whenever it's not raining, the air gets really dry. That also gives your raingear time to dry off before you pack it back in your saddlebags; you _don't_ want it to stay damp, or else it gets mildew on it."

They waited in silence as the sun shone straight down on them; it was close to noon, so the sun was extra-warm at that time of day. They didn't have to wait long before the rocks were dry, and they began packing their saddlebags and getting ready to continue on to the cave.

Applejack paused before she put her saddlebag back on. "Uh...what exactly do you two do when it's time to use the little filly's room?"

"Just aim your plot over the side of the mountain, move your tail out of the way, and let it all out," Twilight answered.

Applejack scowled at her. Twilight raised an eyebrow-what had she said that upset her _this_ time?! It was as if it didn't matter what came out of her mouth, Applejack would get mad! ...Yep, _definitely_ a jerkface!

"She wasn't joking," Shining Armor told her.

"Sorry, princess, no outhouses out here! No toilet paper, either. If you have to wipe," Twilight smoothly added, breaking a leaf off of a vine with the tip of her hoof, "You'll just have to use this!"

Shining Armor was exasperated. "Twilight, that's poison ivy! That was NOT funny!"

Twilight was snickering. "Isn't it?"

" _No_ ," Shining Armor insisted. He turned to Applejack. "Go ahead and do your business."

"The only business you know!" Twilight laughed.

Shining Armor firmly put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, still looking at Applejack. "Take your time. I need to have a little _talk_ with my little sister."

He could feel Twilight's muscles tense up under his hoof as Applejack disappeared out of sight. She looked up at him, mouth open, in utter disbelief.

Seconds after Applejack was out of sight, Twilight hissed, "Shining Armor, what is _with_ you today?! Why do you keep taking _her_ side?!" she asked with a few tears in her eyes.

"I'm not trying to take her side; I'm trying to take no side at all and just... _stop_ this crazy fighting!"

"Do you have any idea what it's _like_?!" Twilight sobbed. "These adventures, this exploration...it was always _you and me_. If we're not on the same side...then...it's like I'm all alone out here!"

Shining Armor sighed. "This is hard for me, too, Twilight."

"Then _stop!_ Stop taking _her_ side! You _know_ she's a jerkface!"

"No, I _don't_ know that, Twilight. I know that she's _not_ -!"

Twilight gasped and her ears pinned backwards.

Shining Armor hastily amended, "She's not all the time-it's pretty much just when she's with you that she acts up, and...it's hurting me more than it hurts you to say this, but...you're the exact same way... Any time you're not around her, you're the sweetest mare I know, you _really_ are. But with her...you're defensive, you're snippy, and you _always_ have to get one up on her. That's not the Twilight I know."

Twilight didn't answer. She stared at Shining Armor with an expression halfway between rage and mourning, and after a moment, tears dripped down her face. "WHY, Shining Armor?! Why are you not on my side?!"

Shining Armor looked at the ground. "Applejack...has just been through the _worst_ two days of her life: she almost died when the wind knocked Sweet Apple Acres' silo down, her brother almost died and got badly injured protecting her from _that_ , she just had her whole life-philosophy trampled on when we got rich from exploring while her family worked their tails off on their farm and still stayed poor, _you_..." Shining Armor couldn't bring himself to accuse his sister, even though he knew she'd done something very, very cruel to Applejack, he just couldn't tell it to her face-he could tell from her scowl that he didn't need to; she knew what he was going to say. He skipped that one, and instead said, "When she ran away from the apple stand, it meant her family lost all the profits from the whole week, and if it weren't for _us_ , they'd be facing bankruptcy right now."

"You think _I_ haven't had it rough?! The moment we're supposed to be celebrating, Filthy Rich slaps us with Section 63! We could lose _everything_ , and not just the house and our freedom, but all the research, all the exploring you and I did...it'll all come to _nothing!_ "

"We _won't_ let that happen, Twilight," Shining Armor insisted, and tried to close in for a hug.

Twilight backed away, not letting him hug her. " _You're not answering my question_!" she sobbed. " _Why_ aren't we on the same side, Shining Armor?"

Shining Armor swallowed. "Big Mackintosh knew how much his sister was hurting...he was afraid that, if things got any worse for her...she'd get so upset, she'd...she'd...she'd jump off one of these cliffs and...and end it all."

Twilight snorted. "Good riddance!"

Shining Armor was absolutely _horrified_. " _Don't. Say. THAT!_ " Shining Armor sobbed back. "Twilight, you are a _much better mare_ than that. _Don't say that_!"

For a brief moment, Twilight had a look of horrified guilt on her face, then she began to look defensive, then very, very sad. Twilight curled up on the ground and began to cry. Shining Armor couldn't help himself; he wrapped his hooves around his sister and cried with her. He kept whispering to her, "You are a _better mare_ than that, Twilight." Again and again he whispered it, his eyes clamped shut in a vain effort to stop the tears.

Applejack had heard the whole conversation, and the main thing that stuck out in her mind was the moment when Twilight had said that her, throwing herself off a cliff, would be "good riddance". Applejack had wished out loud that Twilight's family would end up on the auction block, but now Twilight was wishing the worst possible death on her? If a bear got her, then at _least_ that way-to-go wouldn't have the agony of self-loathing grief attached to it. But _suicide_?! Twilight was wishing _**that**_ on her?

She looked at Shining Armor as he cradled his sister, and thought to herself, _No, she's_ _ **not**_ _a better mare than that, Shining Armor! You just don't want to see it because you're her brother!_

She also spotted Twilight's shiny journal, sitting on the ground near the sobbing pair. They were so absorbed by their crying that they didn't realize she was there. Applejack thought to herself, _When Twilight got one up on me by splurging a gold coin for an apple, it was_ _ **huge**_ _. I'm going to need something_ _ **really**_ _good to get back at her for_ _ **that**_ _! And if she's got all her private thoughts in that journal, then maybe I can find a way to get one up on her if I take it..._

Silently, Applejack crept up to the journal, picked it up, slipped it into her saddlebags, then walked back around the same corner she'd pretended to disappear behind, so that they'd never know she'd been there. She saw a few loose rocks and kicked them loudly with her hoof, so they'd hear her and think that she was just coming back. "Sorry I took so long; that was a big breakfast I had to squeeze out! Big in one end, big out the other, know what I mean?" she innocently said.

The two siblings separated themselves and wiped their faces off, Twilight more embarrassed than Shining Armor was. Shining Armor broke the silence: "Let's get those diamonds already before another storm surprises us-the cave's not far, and none of us are enjoying this day. Once we're back in Ponyville, this'll all be nothing but a bad memory. Come on."

Twilight let out a trembling sigh, put her saddlebags on her back, and took point. Shining Armor went behind her, and Applejack took up the rear.

Once again, they trudged ahead silently-Twilight and Shining Armor because they were exhausted after crying, and Applejack because she didn't want to arouse their suspicions.

In less than half an hour, they were at the cave, and Applejack was absolutely _stunned_. There were diamonds covering the walls, the floors, even the ceiling. The diamonds were mostly a whitish blue, but every time she moved her head, she thought she saw hints of a rainbow sparkling inside-she'd never seen a rainbow diamond up close before. Her jaw dropped as she drank in the sight, and tears started to well up in her eyes: her family had been suffering through years of poverty, sacrificing blood, sweat, and tears just to _try_ to keep up with the mortgage and keep everypony fed; there hadn't really been plenty since she'd gotten out of school. All that hard work, and in the end, it was _Twilight's_ cavorting outdoors that won the financial game and made her _rich_! The realization had hit her _again_.

Loud _clink-clink-clinks_ broke Applejack out of her reverie; Shining Armor and Twilight were using picks to chop away at the walls to loosen diamonds for their packs. Shining Armor wordlessly slid a pick across the ground in Applejack's direction, and she picked it up and began chipping away at the rocks around some diamonds that looked loose.

The work didn't take much brainpower, leaving Applejack's mind to wander...once she came back with her cut of the diamonds, her family would have their mortgage paid a few months ahead. Or maybe they'd just pay the one month, and upgrade some of their farming equipment, instead, so they'd be able to get better income.

Then her mind wandered to how she'd feel once it was done...her crime of leaving the apple stand unattended would be more than paid for at that point, but how would her family feel about the awful things she'd said to them before she left?

 _No matter how much you screw up, I love you unconditionally. Mom and Dad do, too, even if they have to ask you to do unpleasant things or put up with unpleasant ponies. They still love you._

Those words flashed through her mind from her talk with her brother the night before...and how had she answered their love? She'd said she hoped a grizzly would _eat_ her. They kept saying she didn't mean it, but didn't she? ... _Did_ she mean it? If Twilight would _just_ keep quiet until they got back to Ponyville, then _maybe_ this trip wouldn't be so unpleasant, but that didn't seem likely to Applejack.

After another hour or so of mining gems, all the empty space that had been in their saddlebags coming toward the cave was filled with diamonds for the return trip. But just as they were getting ready to leave the cave, they shrunk back from the _last_ thing Applejack had been expecting that afternoon: an enormous grizzly bear was blocking the cave's entrance!

Applejack was trembling, her eyes wide as saucers, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach. "I...I _didn't mean it_!" she whimpered as the bear got closer and closer to her, slavering.

Shining Armor swallowed hard. "Twilight, Applejack, I'm going to distract it. While I do, you two _run_. Drop your saddlebags if you have to; you can come back for them and for my bags later!"

"But you'll _die!_ " Twilight howled.

"And _you won't_!" he shouted back, slipping his saddlebags off and pawing the ground, ready to charge the grizzly. " _Promise_ me you two won't fight!" he shouted, expecting those to be his last words.

"NO! There _has_ to be a better way!" Twilight cried. She pulled a diamond out of her bags, and began chanting:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_

"You don't know where that'll take us!" Shining Armor shouted.

 _Through airless space be safely hurled_

"You don't even know if that'll _do_ anything!" Applejack cried.

 _My party to another world!_

A dazzling light shone out of the gem Twilight was holding, and a second later, the cave was empty of everything but diamonds and rocks, and the only sound came from small pieces of the diamond Twilight had been holding that went clattering across the cave's floor.


	5. Chapter 5

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

The sensation of tumbling through space can hardly be described. Twilight felt like she couldn't move or breathe, but also like she didn't _need_ to do either. The transit from Ponyland to Unicornia took a few minutes, and while Twilight knew she was travelling at impossible speeds of thousands of miles per second, she felt like she was hardly moving at all. She had a faint sensation of tiny stones or particles of dust flying through her...or maybe _she_ was flying through _them_ , and it kind of looked like rain while she was in flight-but it didn't feel like rain. It didn't feel like _anything_. For that matter, she felt neither cold nor warm-neither caged nor free, neither afraid nor safe, almost neither alive nor dead.

Suddenly, the round circle of Unicornia, which was just a tiny dot in the night sky when you looked at it from Ponyland, grew larger and larger until it rushed, almost _exploded_ , at them and covered their whole field of vision-it was almost as if a huge predator had come out of nowhere and gobbled them up!

The next thing Twilight knew, she was looking up at an evening sky, with what seemed like a box canyon around her, and she was gasping for air. Shining Armor and Applejack were in the same position, picking themselves up and breathing heavily. Applejack growled, "What have you gotten me involved in THIS time, _Twilight_?!"

Twilight stammered, "A _bear_ was going to eat my _brother_! What was I _supposed_ to do? We had to get away from him _somehow_!"

Shining Armor gasped. "But we _didn't_ get away from him!" Applejack and Twilight looked at what he was looking at, and to their shock and horror, the same spell that had whisked them to another world had _also_ whisked the grizzly bear along with them. He was again closing in on them with mouth watering, and in that box canyon, there was nowhere to run.

Twilight sniffled. "I'm sorry, Shining Armor...I tried!"

"We both did," he answered softly.

" _OY!_ "

That loud cry gave the three ponies _and_ the bear pause. There was a yellow glow coming from a bush on the other side of the bear, still inside the box canyon, but how that glow was happening, they couldn't tell.

The same voice continued, in a very disciplinarian tone and an accent they were unfamiliar with, "You _don't_ eat ponies! It's not noice!"

The bear turned around and began making noises back at this yellow glow.

As if involved in a conversation with this bear, the first voice answered, "I don't _care_ 'ow delicious one of 'em smells! 'ow would _your_ mum feel if, when you was a cub, some big monster thought _you_ smelled delicious and gobbled _you_ up?"

The bear let out a few grunts of sadness, then seemed to protest further, but with less enthusiasm in his voice.

"If you're 'ungry, there's a meadow full of delicious pine nuts just south of 'ere. _They_ don't have any mums or dads who'd be crying themselves to sleep if you ate _them_!"

Chastened, the bear walked away with his head down for a little while, then perked up and began running toward the exit of the box canyon with glee, his mind full of the thought of delicious pine nuts in his belly.

Shining Armor couldn't help but follow the bear a little ways, to see if he was _really_ going to leave them alone. And surprisingly, he really _was_! It was as if that bear had forgotten all about them! But just _who was it_ that had just saved them?

He turned toward the bush where he _thought_ the glow had come from, slowly walked towards it, and said, "Hey...whoever you are, thanks for saving our lives!"

But with an abruptness that made him jump back, the voice screamed, "Don'tcomeanyclosertomeeeeeeee!"

A tense silence gripped them all. Shining Armor finally answered, "I...I won't, but...why not?"

"Because there's a 'orrible _curse_ on me!" the voice whimpered back.

Twilight pulled her saddlebags back onto her back, walked slowly toward the bush, and softly asked, "What kind of curse? I've read up on a lot of magic, but this is the first time I've heard of a _curse_!"

The voice let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a sob, then answered, "There's...just _something_ about me that causes any pony 'ho lays eye on me to _'ate_ me!"

There was silence for a moment, then Applejack asked, "There's something about you that makes other ponies want to _eat_ you?"

"Not _eat_ me...h-h- _hate_ me! I'm sorry, I 'aven't 'ad to speak with ponies in so long, I've clean forgotten all I learned in school about 'ow to pronounce words!"

"So...you're a _pony_?" Shining Armor asked. "How did you make that golden glow happen?"

"It was just me 'orn magic!" the voice whimpered.

"Your... _horn_ -magic?" Twilight asked, starting to see a pattern to her speech; "h" was apparently silent for her. "...So you're a unicorn?"

"Y...yes," she feebly answered.

There was silence for a moment. Then Twilight said, "I have an idea!" She pulled her tomato-red rain cape out of her bag. "Listen...if it's _seeing_ you that triggers the curse, then...what if you wore my cape? It's got a big hood-the cape is magic, so it's supposed to be able to hold pretty huge hairstyles-so it'll probably hold your horn; it should fit. In fact, if you have the hood up, you'll look like an earth pony, just like the three of us..."

Twilight waited for the unicorn to ask what she meant by "earth pony", but she didn't ask. She was just silent.

So Twilight instead asked, "So...is it okay if I set this cape down on top of your bush, and then we'll turn around while you put the cape on?"

After a moment, she heard a sniffle, and the unicorn whispered back, "Okay..."

Twilight slowly stepped up to the bush, which began trembling, and shook more and more the closer Twilight got to it. It was scary just how frightened this poor unicorn was of her! But Twilight said nothing, and just laid her prized cape on top of the bush, took a few steps back, then turned around.

Applejack and Shining Armor also turned their backs to the bush, and Shining Armor said, "Okay-it's safe to come out and put the cape on."

They heard some rustling as she stepped out of the bush and slid the cape on, and they heard the rumple of waterproof fabric as she pulled the hood up over her head. After a moment, she whispered, "Okay...you can turn around now...I 'ope...!"

The three of them did, and saw a trembling, crouched-down figure, looking at them with terrified, uncertain eyes. They couldn't quite see her face; it was shrouded in shadows under the hood, but they could see when her mouth or eyes moved. Her eyes darted from pony to pony, and her lips quivered a little as if she were about to begin crying at any moment. It was a pitiable sight, and hurt all the more because this unicorn was afraid of _them_ , even though they meant her no harm and felt nothing towards her but gratitude for saving their _lives!_

After a few moments of silence with her huddling by the ground and them staring at her in pity and confusion, she whimpered, "Do you 'ate me?"

Twilight shook her head. "No. Not even a little."

There was another pause; it was so hard to know what to say to this unicorn; she looked so fragile, like she was about to burst into tears or run away at the slightest emotional prodding. Twilight thought to herself that it was astonishing that she wasn't afraid of a grizzly at all, but she was _terrified_ of other ponies!

"What's your name?" Twilight asked softly.

"Fluttershy," she answered weakly. She didn't say another word, and just stared at Twilight in fear.

Twilight felt like she had to avoid that gaze, so she looked at the ground and stammered, "My name is Twilight, and this is my brother Shining Armor, and...and his best friend's sister, Applejack. We're...well, we're explorers from Ponyland, and we more-or-less ended up on Unicornia by accident." She blushed a little. "You see, there's this magic spell I found that lets a pony teleport herself and her party to another world, and I'd _like_ to use it to get the three of us back to Ponyland, but...well, we'll need to buy a gem to use the spell. Can you tell us where we can find a town that has a gem dealer?"

Fluttershy swallowed hard. "I...I know the way, but...but...but it's got so many twists and turns...I couldn't just tell you 'ow to get there; I'd need to take you to Canterlot myself!"

"...Can you take us there? _Please_?" Applejack asked.

Fluttershy whimpered. "That's where I grew up, and all the ponies there were so _mean_ to me!"

"They won't recognize you," Shining Armor assured her. "When you're under that cloak, they'll think you're another earth pony, like us!" After a pause, Shining Armor added, "I hate to ask you to do something that scares you, but...well, our only chance to get home is to get to a city where we can buy a mountain ruby, and if we don't make it back home within about 48 hours...our family is going to lose their home."

Fluttershy gasped when she heard this. "Oh...I..." She swallowed hard. "I'll show you the way. But...we won't get there before dark; we'll need to stop in a cave for the night...I know that cave well; I shelter there all the time..." After a moment's hesitation, she began trotting out of the box canyon, and the three earth ponies began to follow her.

After a few minutes of moving through unfamiliar wilderness with unfamiliar trees, unfamiliar grasses, and even unfamiliar stones, Twilight decided to ask their guide a little more about herself. She trotted a little faster for a few seconds so that she was walking alongside Fluttershy, but when Fluttershy turned and saw her there, Fluttershy seemed to shrink back into the hood of her cloak, terrified.

Twilight gasped, not sure how to react. Finally, she said, "I...I still don't hate you...I'm not going to hurt you..." After another pause as Fluttershy seemed to calm down a little, Twilight asked, "Do you...live out here in the wilderness?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"That's so that you don't meet any ponies?"

Fluttershy nodded again.

"But...how can you survive when you're always all alone out here?"

"Oh, I'm not always alone!"

"Do other ponies come and visit you?"

"Oh, never _ponies_! Whenever I see or hear another pony, I always run away and find a place to 'ide until they leave!"

"...Then who are you with?"

"Why, the animals, of course. A sharp-eyed eagle told me something was coming to that canyon, and I'd 'oped it'd be a new animal friend... I guess to make up for the fact that ponies always 'ate me, animals always love me, and when I use me magic, they can understand whatever I say!"

"Wow...isn't it dangerous, though? Wouldn't a predator eat you as soon as it found you?"

"Oh, _never_. They'd _never_ do anything so mean-not to me, at least! It's a common myth that predators are mean; once you get to know them, they can be the _kindest_ and _gentlest_ creatures you've ever met! Why, just last week, I was playing with a wolf pack's latest litter of cubs! They were the most darling little creatures you ever saw!"

Fluttershy saw Twilight's look of confusion and took it the wrong way. She whimpered again and asked, "Are you starting to 'ate me?"

"No-no," Twilight hastily answered. "It's just that...it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me that you aren't afraid of wolves or bears, but you are afraid of other ponies."

Fluttershy looked down at the ground in shame, and a teardrop splattered on the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Twilight apologized, "I didn't mean to make you cry! I...I..." she had no idea what to say.

Fluttershy sniffled. "The bears and wolves are always nice to me. Ponies _never_ are." Fluttershy sobbed. "And...it's only a matter of time before _you_ three start to 'ate me, _too_!"

Twilight looked at the ground and remember how much she hated Applejack. _But I hate Applejack because she's such a_ _ **jerkface**_ _!_ Twilight thought. _I can't imagine Fluttershy being a jerkface, but...what if there really_ _ **is**_ _some kind of magic that makes ponies hate her?_ It was a scary thought to Twilight, that something could reach into her mind and reconfigure it against her will so that she'd _hate_ a pony who'd _saved her life_...!

"Even if I _do_ start to hate you," Twilight whispered, "I'll at least try not to be mean to you..." Twilight began to think about her interactions with Applejack, and a little pang of conscience hit her-she _had_ thrown insults at Applejack, and not really in response to any _one_ thing AJ had said to her-and least not on _that_ adventure! And worst of all, she'd wished Applejack would jump off a _cliff_. Twilight started to feel very mixed-up when she remembered _that_ , and hoped that writing in her journal that evening would help her get her thoughts in order.

"Thanks," Fluttershy whimpered.

Twilight felt like the conversation ought to be over at that point, so she slowed her trotting until she was next to Applejack. She whispered to her, "I'm really worried about Fluttershy..."

"Me too," she whispered back. "It feels like one... _less-than-kind_ word would make her start crying! That why I haven't been talking much..."

"About that...can we...call a truce?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Shining Armor snarked.

"All right," Applejack answered. She thought of adding "If you break it, all bets are off!" but she thought that such an implied threat would make Fluttershy yelp, or start crying, or (worst of all) run away and leave them in the middle of nowhere, so she didn't say it.

After a few more minutes, Fluttershy led them into a cave. It wasn't like the cave with the diamonds in it that immediately opened into a huge chamber; a long tunnel led from the entrance before it opened up into a chamber. Twilight and Shining Armor brought their lanterns out of their saddlebags, and Fluttershy stopped and gasped and stared at the huge stalactites hanging high above from the ceiling.

"I thought you were familiar with this cave?" Shining Armor asked.

"Yes, but...I never _seen_ it before; I always felt and...well, sort of _listened_ my way into it before!"

"You've always been in total darkness in here?" Twilight wondered aloud.

"Mm-hmm."

"And the _dark_ didn't scare you?"

"...No..."

Twilight blinked. She couldn't think what to say, so she stayed silent and began looking in her saddlebag for her journal-she just _had_ to get her thoughts written out! But no matter where she looked, she couldn't find it. In frustration, she dumped her saddlebags out on the ground, and rifled through everything she had-her towel, her diamonds, her pick and shovel, her writing utensils and bracelet were all there, but not her journal. Twilight looked up with tears in her eyes.

For her part, Fluttershy was surprised at the sight of the diamonds, but saw that Twilight was about to cry, and began to look confused.

Twilight looked over at Shining Armor, then sobbed, "My _journal!_ It must _still_ be on Rainbow Mountain!" She rushed to her brother and began sobbing into his shoulder.

He rested his head against her cheek and tried to comfort her. "I know how much that journal means to you, Twilight. We'll get it back on our way back home!"

"But what if it rains down on my journal? It'll be _ruined_!"

"Shhhh..." he whispered back. "I know you've poured your heart and soul into that book, but the important thing is that _we're_ safe, and that we come back home with the diamonds to pay the mortgage. You're _going to be okay_...trust me."

"But...but I'm _not_ okay _NOW!_ " Twilight cried. And there was nothing she could _do_ about it, so she did the only thing she could, and she kept crying and crying onto her brother's shoulder.

Fluttershy stood back from this display of sorrow and affection with a look on her face like a starving child looking into a restaurant window. Anyone who had looked at her could've told: she had very often wished for a shoulder to cry on, but had _never_ gotten one.

But nopony was looking at her: Shining Armor was looking to Twilight, Twilight's eyes were clouded over with tears, and Applejack was looking at Twilight, trying not to smile. Applejack knew that _she_ was the reason Twilight was crying like this, and it gave her no small amount of pleasure-but she also knew that, if she started smirking or yelling at Twilight, it'd give away the fact that she stole the journal, it'd break the truce, and it'd probably break Fluttershy's heart-she had _no_ desire to hurt _her_! So, thinking that some polite way of excusing herself would grant the best appearance of kindness _and_ give her a chance to read what was in Twilight's journal, she asked, "Shining Armor, may I take your lantern? I think one of us should stand watch while the others sleep-I volunteer for the first shift."

"Go ahead," Shining Armor softly answered, still cradling his sister.

Applejack picked up his lantern with her teeth and walked back up the tunnel. She noticed that there was plenty of gravel on part of the tunnel's floor, which was perfect as far as she was concerned: if somepony decided to leave to answer the call of nature, the noise of hooves on that gravel would give her plenty of warning. She pulled her father's duster out of her saddlebags, both to keep herself warmer during the night, and to give herself a place to hide the journal if somepony came up behind her.

She listened, and heard the sound of Twilight, crying herself to sleep. _Now I'm paying you back for that apple stand_ , she thought to herself, _And THAT was just the_ _ **first**_ _installment!_

She slipped the journal out as quietly as she could and opened it to the first entry. It was actually from several years ago:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _Finally, I earned enough money to buy_ _ **you**_ _! You're actually my second diary, but my first one was all filled up with notes about researching air and earth magic-I've already proven, without a doubt, that the storms that always form over Rainbow Mountain have GOT to be because the mountain is honeycombed all over with a cave system, and that cave system just HAS to be GLITTERING with magic-exuding_ _ **rainbow diamonds**_ _! And nopony except my family even_ _ **knows**_ _that this cave system even_ _ **exists**_ _! The only question left is: how do we GET those diamonds?!_

 _The only way to find out: explore the mountain until we find the entrance!_

 _Unfortunately, we can't do that until we get enough equipment for exploring. The bare minimum we need is:_

 _Raingear for both Shining Armor and me (they don't call it Rainbow Mountain for nothing!)_  
 _Saddlebags to carry diamonds back_  
 _A pick_  
 _A shovel_  
 _A lantern_  
 _Paper and pen and a bracelet to make a map_

 _I'll use this journal and the pen and bracelet I'm writing this with right now to make a map of the mountain...once we_ _ **get**_ _that far. So far, that's the only item on that list that we've managed to get our hooves on!_

 _The reason I could afford to buy this journal and the pen and bracelet I'm using now is because Shining Armor and I are working for Dad. Binding books together...it's very boring, very repetitive work, but at least the books look nice when we're done. The problem is, we can barely earn_ _ **three**_ _silver bits in a week, and it'll take_ _ **at least**_ _two hundred to buy all that stuff for the both of us! We can always hope for a sale at the outfitters, but even if there is a sale, will we have enough money to make a purchase when the sale happens?_

 _I'd wanted to save up and buy the big stuff first, like the raingear and the lantern, but Shining Armor insisted that we'd be better motivated if we bought a small thing first. He actually pooled his money with mine to buy you-can you_ _ **believe**_ _it?_

 _I'm lucky to have a big brother like him who believes in me...I was so afraid that Mom and Dad and Shining Armor just wouldn't believe me when I told them about all my research, but I should've known better than to worry about THAT! They're my FAMILY! Of COURSE they ALL believe in me!_

 _Well, I guess I'd better turn in. There's a lot of bookbinding work ahead of me tomorrow morning, and the more books I bind, the sooner I can get the rest of that gear!_

Applejack was taken aback. TWILIGHT, of all ponies, _working hard_?! This didn't seem like the Twilight she knew and hated. It made no sense at all! Did she _deliberately_ leave fake entries in her journal, just in case Applejack ever stole it?

No...that made even _less_ sense than a hardworking Twilight!

Applejack puzzled over this for a few minutes, then concluded that the only thing to do was to keep reading and hope for better answers...

 _Dear Diary-_

 _Saving up silver bits for our exploration is getting harder, especially when there are so many tempting things to spend them on that_ _ **aren't**_ _exploration gear!_

 _Applejack did something to me that was_ _ **so**_ _mean...and worst of all, at first, it_ _ **seemed**_ _like she was being nice to me! She was eating ice cream-I haven't had any ice cream since I was a little filly! And she offered me a little taste. I accepted her offer, and that tiny half-mouthful she gave me tasted_ _ **so, so**_ _good! I wanted more! Just a couple of bites, but she wouldn't let me. In fact, she gobbled the whole thing up and gave me some speech about how you only get things like ice cream as a reward for hard work. Doesn't she realize I_ _ **am**_ _working hard?_

Applejack remembered this moment. She had actually been trying to be _nice_ , trying to impress a lesson on Twilight, to motivate her to work hard-her own parents had done the same thing with her when she had just graduated from school: they took her out to eat ice cream at Lickety Split's parlor, but they only let her have one little taste. They told her that she had to work hard and earn her own allowance in order to afford to buy her own ice cream, and she took that lesson to heart and bought some ice cream every time the family had been able to afford to give her an allowance.

She thought that was a very, very good lesson, and she was only trying to share that lesson with Twilight. After all, the ice cream tasted _better_ when she knew she'd earned it! Why didn't Twilight understand that?!

She read on:

 _We need two hundred silver bits to afford the rest of our exploration gear, but we only have thirty. If the outfitters have a sale (and they could at any time), then just_ _ **one**_ _bit could make the difference between getting one step closer to being able to explore the mountain and being left behind-I can't afford to spend_ _ **anything**_ _on ice cream!_

 _I'm actually crying right now, because it would've been better if I'd never been given a reminder of how good ice cream tasted...did Applejack do that just to be_ _ **mean**_ _to me?! I mean, the second I asked for another bite, she_ _ **gobbled the whole thing up**_ _!_

Applejack tried to think: _if I'd known then what I know now, would I have let her have more?_ She remembered that she had been worried that Twilight would've stolen another bite if she didn't eat it all herself before Twilight got the chance, but now...she almost felt bad about doing wolfing it down.

 _Wait-what am I feeling_ _ **bad**_ _for?_ Applejack asked herself. _This is_ _ **Twilight**_ _, the ultimate jerkface, that we're talking about! She_ _ **deserves**_ _to feel rotten!_

Applejack read a little ways on, and the next few pages were just updates on how much money they'd saved and wishing the outfitters would have a sale. Finally, she saw the entry where they'd gotten enough money to buy their equipment:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I...I'm not sure how I feel, right now..._

 _We FINALLY saved up enough money to buy rain ponchos for me and Shining Armor, one pick, one shovel, a lantern, and a set of saddlebags for him. We decided it'd have to be enough for our first trip up the mountain, and we felt very happy to have enough to BEGIN exploring that huge mountain._

 _We stopped at a ledge partway up the mountain that gave us an_ _ **amazing**_ _view of Ponyville! You could see the whole town from up there! I'm never going to forget that feeling, looking down on everything-it all seemed so_ _ **small**_ _from up there! Like we're a tiny part of a much bigger world, like...shoot, how do I say this? I know our mortgage and the business dealings in Ponyville_ _ **are**_ _important; paying off the mortgage is one of the main reasons we come up here! But when you look at Ponyville from up here, where everything seems so small...it kind of makes you forget how important it is, and almost makes you feel like it's a small debt owed by small ponies to a small bank. I wish that kind of feeling could last forever!_

Applejack had to pause here; she remembered the feeling of looking down at Ponyville from the mountain for the first time. She knew the very emotion Twilight was trying to convey, and just at that moment, she felt like her grudge against Twilight was a small thing, too. But she shook that feeling off, tried to remember who she was, what she was doing, and who she hated, and then read on.

 _But after that...something happened. Something VERY scary, something that made me want to go back to binding books all day instead of ever going NEAR the mountain again: a rainstorm came up on the mountain, and there was barely enough time for us to pull our ponchos out of Shining Armor's bags and put them on before it started to_ _ **pour**_ _! I saw a cave just up ahead while it was raining, and I figured that, even if there isn't a diamond in there, we can at least take shelter from the rain there._

 _But the rain made the rocks slippery...so slippery that I lost my balance and began sliding towards one of the cliffs! Shining Armor must've lunged towards me to save my life, and the next thing I knew, he was dangling off the edge of the cliff, and I was holding onto his hooves! My head was over the cliff, so I could see how far down it went, and I knew that if I'd let go, he'd be...he'd be_ _ **DEAD**_ _right now!_

Applejack noticed that there were teardrops staining the page; ink had mixed with them and made the shapes of the drops permanent. _So why don't you just stay at home where it's safe, and WORK, then?_ Applejack thought to herself.

 _I was_ _ **SO**_ _scared! I wanted to pull him up, but he just kept screaming "Don't move, Twilight! Don't move! The rocks are too slippery; don't move a muscle, Twilight! Don't MOVE!" I think I'm going to shudder every time I hear somepony tell me not to move for the rest of my LIFE! Even just writing it here...it's_ _ **so**_ _SCARY! It was the most awful moment of my life; there was thunder and lightning all around me, rain was pouring down onto me and onto Shining Armor, it was so cold, it felt like everything was happening in slow-motion, I was so afraid that my grip on his hooves would slip, and he'd go crashing down and I'd never ever see him again, and it would be all my fault because it was MY idea to go on that stupid mountain in the first place!_

Applejack had to stop reading for a few minutes. This was _far_ too much like the moment where Big Mackintosh saved her life from the falling silo. The moment after she heard the awful sound of the silo crashing to the ground and had turned around and seen him half-crushed beneath the wreckage had absolutely terrified her to her core, and she found herself unable _not_ to sympathize with Twilight at this awful moment of her life.

She reminded herself that the stallion she was reading about had to have survived this danger, that she'd spoken with him less than an hour ago, that he'd agreed to let her borrow his lantern, the very lantern whose light she was reading these pages by-he was _alive_ for Pete's sake! Why feel worried about him _now_? She tried to shake off the awful feelings of fear and keep reading.

 _The scariest part was that I thought that my grip was_ _ **already**_ _slipping! Looking back on it now, I must've had a pretty good grip on him the whole time, because he never actually got further away, and I never moved at all while I was holding onto him. I guess I was just feeling rain falling through my fur and onto my hooves, and the feeling of that rainwater going down made me afraid that Shining Armor's hooves were_ _ **also**_ _going down. If I tried to get a better grip, he might slip, but if I did nothing, he might already BE slipping! It was only because Shining Armor kept screaming and screaming not to move a muscle that I didn't try to get a better grip; I was so afraid that I was already losing him that I almost made a mistake and_ _ **DID**_ _lose him!_

More teardrops stained the page here-much more. Applejack had to turn the page before she could read on:

 _He kept telling me not to move long after the rain finally stopped. Eventually I shouted back, right in his face, "I can't hold on forever! When CAN I move?!" And he told me that, when the rocks and my fur were dry, then I can try to pull him up. I waited and waited what felt like an eternity, and finally he asked me whether the rocks were dry. They were, so I finally pulled him up._

 _Once he was away from that awful cluff, I hugged him so tightly, and I cried and I cried until I couldn't cry any more. I think I told him I wanted to go home, and never go up that mountain again. But he looked into that cave I'd seen earlier, and inside, there was a sparkling_ _ **diamond**_ _! If he hadn't spotted that diamond, I don't think I could EVER go up on that mountain again!_

 _We took it to a gems dealer in town, Amethyst Star. We bought another pick, another shovel, another lantern, and another set of saddlebags for me, but we made a family decision and saved the rest of the money in an emergency fund. If one of us gets hurt while we're exploring, we'll_ _ **need**_ _to be able to hire a doctor...if we make it back alive, that is._

 _...Writing that last line was scary, too! Oh, I hope it_ _ **never**_ _comes down to that...!_

 _You know, it felt really strange, shopping at the outfitters' for more exploring equipment. I felt like I was buying things to go on a trip that I didn't want to take, anymore. I told Shining Armor haw I felt, and he insisted that this wouldn't happen again if we followed the golden rule of mountain climbing: never move your hooves while it's raining. And he said that if we_ _ **just**_ _follow that one rule, we'll be safe._

 _I sure hope he's right. Today was so scary, so awful, that it's going to take_ _ **all**_ _my courage to go up that mountain again. But if we find more diamonds, we could have the mortgage paid off even faster!_

 _It feels so good to be back home, right now...lying in the bed Shining Armor and I have shared since I was a toddler, his hooves wrapped around me, safe and warm and alive...I sure hope I can find enough courage inside me to go up on that mountain again! I know I've worked and waited for years to get this far, and if we stop exploring after our_ _ **first**_ _trip up the mountain, then all of that hard work and waiting will be for nothing! But...exploring can be so_ _ **dangerous**_ _and_ _ **scary**_ _!_

 _I'm definitely going to at least_ _ **try**_ _to go up on the mountain again. But I'm definitely going to be more careful from now on!_

Applejack found herself in suspense while reading Twilight's journal. She'd _never_ expected that she'd enjoy reading it for its own sake, and not just to find secrets and weaknesses with which she could get back at Twilight later. It took her a moment to realize that she could make Twilight shudder any time she wanted by yelling "Don't move!"

But then she realized something else: while she had been reading the story of her first trip up the mountain, Applejack had actually been hoping that Twilight would have a happy ending to her story. That realization hit her like a ton of bricks; she had to remind herself that she was reading the journal of an utter jerkface who didn't deserve to have Applejack care about her at all.

But at the same time, she found it hard to believe the same jerkface who'd spent a gold coin just to be cruel was the _same pony_ who had written this journal.


	6. Chapter 6

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Applejack felt very mixed up as she kept reading Twilight's diary. She found it surprising that she was starting to _care_ about what happened to Twilight, but she couldn't help herself. In any case, stealing the diary was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Applejack, and she knew she _couldn't_ pass up her chance to read it!

Most of the entries Applejack read were details about mapping the mountain, but before long, she found another narrative:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _It's days like today that keep me motivated to keep going up that mountain, in spite of the dangers and getting rained on almost every time we go up there: this time, we found_ _ **THREE**_ _diamonds!_

 _It's a good thing, too, because business is getting slower for Dad. If we hadn't found those diamonds, we'd have a choice between falling behind on our mortgage, or tapping into the emergency fund that we're_ _ **trying**_ _to save for medical expenses!_

 _Shining Armor and I decided to put some of the money towards upgrading our gear. Our older ponchos were starting to wear out, so we got newer ones that are bigger, and much, MUCH warmer. It sounds weird to wish to get rained on, but I can't wait to try mine out! We also decided that it'd be a good idea to buy towels and bedrolls-taking bedrolls would let us take longer trips and explore more of the mountain at a time, and we usually find enough caves to shelter in that we don't need to buy a tent. Even if we did buy a tent, the ground is almost always rock, so we wouldn't be able to hammer the tent pegs down. We're also keeping towels with us-if an accident happens and one of us gets a tear in our ponchos, then it'd be better if we had a way of drying off and getting warm._

 _There's a good chunk of money left, even after the mortgage payment and the gear upgrades. We're putting most of it into the emergency fund-we'd_ _ **like**_ _to save all of it for medical expenses, but if Dad's bookbinding orders keep going down, then, like it or not, we_ _ **might**_ _need to spend some of it on paying the mortgage off!_

 _It seems like every time you turn around, you hear about somepony losing his job or moving out of town. I asked Dad why, and he thought it was because of the new owner of the Savings and Loan office. He's worse about invoking some kind of rule, I think Dad said it was an old rule called Section 63 of Bankruptcy Laws or something...he said it was written hundreds of years ago because corrupt nobles would borrow money from merchants to make themselves rich, but then they'd refuse to pay back the loans-I guess the nobles thought "I'm a_ _ **lord**_ _, so I don't need to pay those_ she _**little people**_ _back if I don't feel like it!" so our Princess passed a law saying that, if a creditor thought that somepony who owed him money was refusing to pay it back even though he could, then the creditor could give 24 hours' notice to demand repayment, or else everything the debtor owned would belong to the creditor, and the debtor and his whole family would have to be sold off as indentured servants!_

 _That rule seems_ _ **crazy**_ _to me! It means that anypony who goes into debt is risking_ _ **everything!**_ _Why would anypony ever borrow money if that law even_ _ **exists**_ _? Daddy said it was almost never used until this new banker took over his family business. Now it's being used more and more, so more and more ponies are trying to get away from town...if they can._

 _I'm almost glad that_ _ **we**_ _can't get away; I haven't heard about other mountains like Rainbow Mountain that have constant storms, so as long as we're here in Ponyville, Shining Armor and I_ _ **still**_ _have a chance to strike it rich!_

 _It almost feels like we struck it rich today; we've actually got enough money to spare at this point that Shining Armor and I are going out for ice cream! We're also going to invite Big Mackintosh and Applejack. I'm not sure how I feel about_ _ **her**_ _, but hey: Shining Armor and Big Mackintosh have been great friends since school, so we can't really leave his sister out._

Applejack thought she remembered this moment; looking back on it, she had thought at the time that Twilight was trying to guilt-trip her or something. Twilight had walked up to her while she was carrying apples to the fruit stand for Big Mackintosh to sell, had a big smile on her face, and invited her to ice cream after the family's stand closed up. Applejack had said no, because, in her mind, ice cream was something you got as a reward when business was good. At the time, business hadn't been good, and in fact her family had begun to fall behind on the mortgage right at that point, so they couldn't afford to give her an allowance. To her, no ice cream was simply just punishment for not working hard enough to keep the family's heads above water, and she'd just felt too _guilty_ to say yes to her invitation.

 _But what would Twilight think of that moment?_ Applejack wondered. _I bet she'll get it all wrong..._ Applejack decided to read the next entry and find out.

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I can't_ _ **believe**_ _Applejack! I was trying to be nice to her-and she blew me off!_

 _We had more than enough change to buy four banana splits, so I suggested to Shining Armor that we invite Big Mackintosh and Applejack to have ice cream. Some part of me felt guilty that she and I aren't friends; I mean, Big Mackintosh and Shining Armor are really close. It almost feels like I'm betraying Shining Armor by not being friends with Applejack, too._

 _ **Almost.**_

 _Applejack looked at me all grouchy when I invited her and said she just_ _ **couldn't**_ _come. She didn't even give me any excuses why not, either! What on earth_ _ **is**_ _it about me that makes her_ _ **hate**_ _me so much that she'd turn down_ _ **ice cream**_ _just to keep away from me!?_

 _In the end, it was just Big Mackintosh, my brother, and me. I tried not to get mad at Applejack, for Big Mack's sake, but honestly, I can't believe what a jerkface she is._

 _That'll teach me to ever try to be nice to_ _ **her**_ _again-it'll backfire every time!_

Applejack couldn't believe her eyes. _**Her**_ a jerkface!? She was grouchy at the time this happened because, even though she was working herself nearly to the point of exhaustion on the farm, her family was _still_ falling behind in their mortgage payments-her reasons for feeling grouchy and turning down the ice cream had nothing to _do_ with Twilight!

She kept on reading. Again, most of the journal entries were details about places they'd explored where they hoped to find a cave entrance, but didn't. It took her a while, but she eventually found another narrative:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _What I wouldn't give to find another diamond right about now...! It's been_ _ **months**_ _since we found one, and I could_ _ **really**_ _use something to cheer me up right now!_

 _Applejack was an even bigger jerkface than usual: she offered me an apple core. An APPLE CORE! She said something about the seeds being good for something, but honestly? Offering me GARBAGE while I'm already discouraged?!_

Applejack's jaw dropped. _Does she_ _ **have**_ _to assume that everything I do around her is_ _ **always**_ _to hurt her feelings?!_ Applejack wondered. She'd offered her the seeds of an apple tree (albeit still in a core) so that Twilight would be able to grow her own apples in her own front yard. But Twilight had stormed off before she could explain. Applejack really _**had**_ been trying to be nice to Twilight for a change! She had been offering Twilight _free snacks_ in exchange for, well, patience and a little work watering the trees every day. And all Twilight saw was _garbage_?!

Applejack thought about it for a moment. _It's as if Twilight's expectations are creating a wall around her mind and heart, causing any kindness on my part to bounce off and fail to reach her, because she_ _ **always**_ _assumes the worst intentions are behind everything I do or say!_ Applejack thought _. Good thing_ _ **I'm**_ _smart enough not to make the same mistake!_

Again, most of the journal was detailing places that they'd been to on the mountain, the vegetation and caves they'd found, and what kinds of caves had diamonds and what ones didn't. Occasionally she saw a note about how anxious Twilight was about the mortgage, but every time, they always had enough money to make their payment. _That makes them luckier than us!_ Applejack thought. She wondered why _they_ always had enough while _her_ family _never_ had enough, and after considering it for a while, concluded, _It's because_ _ **they**_ _just have a treehome that doubles as a workshop to pay for._ _ **We**_ _have a whole farm mortgaged!_

The journal wasn't providing her with much that would help her to upset Twilight, and Applejack told herself that her frustration with not finding anything interesting was because of that. But the real reasons were because she actually _liked_ reading stories about Twilight, and because she kept finding things that she could relate to. Most of all, it was because she was beginning to have her doubts about whether Twilight really was such a jerkface, but she didn't want to admit it to herself.

After several more pages of entries about nothing new, Applejack found another story worth reading:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I'm lucky to be alive,_ _ **and**_ _lucky that the emergency fund had enough money in it to pay for a doctor! ..._ _ **And**_ _I'm lucky to have a brother as strong and brave as Shining Armor, too!_

 _I swear, I will_ _ **never**_ _move my hooves when the rocks are wet-it's_ _ **not enough**_ _to avoid moving your hooves when it's raining; the wet rocks are the_ _ **real**_ _problem, NOT the rain!_

 _It was almost exactly like the time Shining Armor nearly fell off the cliff...ooo, I'm shuddering even now remembering that! It was pouring rain, and I saw a cave up ahead and hoped_ _ **oh**_ _so much that there were more diamonds in it, because that'd feel_ _ **really**_ _good about now! I remembered my lesson from last time and didn't move my hooves until the rain stopped. As soon as the rain stopped, I started walking towards it, but the rocks were still wet and slippery, so I slipped..._

 _Shining Armor shouted not to move (_ _ **EEEEEEEEEK!**_ _), but it was too late: I'd already fallen down and fell over another cliff! Lucky for me, there was an outcropping of rock under that cliff, so I didn't fall all the way down-only about eight feet or so._

 _My leg hurt_ _ **so**_ _badly-I don't think I've_ _ **ever**_ _felt such awful pain! I was screaming, and now I know what Shining Armor felt when he told me not to move, because I yelled up at him not to move, either, until the rocks were dry! I could hear him shouting back at me, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. After a few minutes, which felt like_ _ **hours**_ _because I was in so much pain and so worried, Shining Armor peeked over the cliff, saw that I was alive, and the relief on his face...it even made_ _ **me**_ _feel relieved just to see how relieved_ _ **he**_ _was!_

 _He knew my leg was broken, so he used our towels to tie it to his shovel to splint it, and then he used our rain ponchos to tie me to his back while he climbed back up the cliff._

Once again, Applejack had to stop. This reminded her just a little too much of the moment where she and her father had tied Big Mackintosh's leg to a stick and then carried him away from the fallen silo and up the stairs to their room. She'd been _so_ afraid that she'd make a mistake, that he'd slip off their backs and fall and break another bone..!

Applejack thought to herself, _Shouldn't I be_ _ **wishing**_ _this pain on Twilight?_ _ **She's**_ _the jerkface, here! Doesn't she_ _ **deserve**_ _this for going out on a dangerous mountain, when there's safe, gainful work waiting for her at home? Shouldn't I be gloating to her that now she can't go playing around outside anymore?_ But Applejack found herself _absolutely unable_ to take pleasure in Twilight's misfortune.

She read on:

 _He carried me straight home-I tried to talk him into checking that cave, but he insisted I should see a doctor right away. I guess that emergency fund really_ _ **was**_ _smart-the doctor set the broken bone and put a cast around my leg. Now I'm bedridden for the next six weeks, but at least I'm alive!_

 _Once the cast was on and I was in bed, Shining Armor wouldn't stop hugging and nuzzling me. I let him, and I hugged and nuzzled him back; I know he's just glad I'm alive. He told me that it's going to take all of_ _ **his**_ _courage to go back up on that mountain, because he'd never been more scared than the moment he thought he'd already lost me. I know that feeling_ _ **too**_ _well! I told him not to worry: he was strong for me when I was afraid to go up on the mountain again after our first accident,_ _ **and**_ _he was strong for me when I needed him to carry me home, so it's only fair that I start paying him back by being strong for_ _ **him**_ _in six weeks when we it's time to start exploring the mountain, again!_

 _The problem is: what am I going to_ _ **do**_ _to occupy myself for the next six weeks while I heal?_

Applejack's eyes widened as she read the next entry.

 _Dear Diary-_

 _We found a way to pass the time: Dad's put me to work again, binding books._

 _They're actually bringing the work right into the bedroom for me and carrying it away when I'm done! Who knows? I might even get a little extra money for this._

 _It actually feels really good to be working. It's almost like a game: how quickly can we fill out one of Dad's orders? Sure, it's repetitive, but I'm starting to get better at it. The more orders we fill, the more money we can make, after all!_

Applejack read on about how many orders they'd managed to fill and how much Twilight had enjoyed it, but she couldn't believe it. Twilight actually _liked_ working hard for her family?! _That_ was the exact philosophy Applejack herself always stuck to! Twilight had tried it, and she had _enjoyed_ it and _threw herself into it_ just as vigorously as Applejack did!

So _**why**_ didn't Twilight just _stick to that_ , like Applejack did?!

Even if she didn't stick to it, it was shocking to Applejack that _Twilight_ , the pony she'd always believed was lazy and played all day in the mountains while her parents worked, could _actually_ be a hard worker when she wanted to be! She even _enjoyed it_ when she put her mind to it-just like Applejack did!

The scary thought that she and Twilight weren't much different from each other popped up in her head. Applejack shook her head to try to get that crazy idea out of her brain, but it kept sticking in her mind: _they were so much alike!_ She re-read the entry where Shining Armor was dangling over a cliff, then the entry where Twilight had broken her leg, and she realized that Twilight had felt the _exact_ same emotions that _she_ had felt when her own brother had broken _his_ leg. Then she re-read the entries where Applejack had given Twilight a taste of ice cream, where Twilight had offered _her_ ice cream, and where she'd offered apple seeds to her, and she realized that both of them really _had_ tried to extend an olive branch to the other, but each time had been shot down.

 _No,_ Applejack thought to herself, _Each time, it was_ _ **Twilight**_ _not understanding_ _ **my**_ _intentions that made_ _ **her**_ _get mad at_ _ **me**_ _for no reason! I am_ _ **not**_ _like her; I'm wise enough to stick to working close with my family, and I'm_ _ **also**_ _wise enough to know when_ _ **she**_ _is trying to be nice to me. THAT is the difference between her and me! Why, if she caught me at the right time, and actually did something to help, I just_ _ **know**_ _I'd be able to recognize that she was being nice, and_ _ **she'd**_ _know I knew it, too!_

Applejack tried to shake off her doubts and keep reading, but she was actually beginning to feel anxious about this whole journal. It was telling her things about Twilight that she never would've been able to guess at, _and_ telling her things about _herself_ that she did NOT feel comfortable with.

She came to a part she already knew would happen: the part where Twilight's leg healed, and she and Shining Armor immediately ditched bookbinding and went right back to exploring. It still made Applejack's head spin that they'd give up this _safe, honest work_ for more exploring, even when they were _enjoying_ the work, and when exploring was so _dangerous_! Why couldn't they see that sticking close to your family and working hard was _better_?!

Then came the entry she dreaded, where Twilight went back to that same cave that had baited her into moving her hooves too soon, and found another diamond in it. Was _that_ the answer to Applejack's question: that it really _wasn't_ better to stay close to your family and work hard?

Applejack's jaw dropped as she realized that, for all her hard work, her family had _still_ fallen behind on the mortgage payments. She hadn't tasted ice cream or gotten an allowance in over a year. And in the cave-chamber behind her was Twilight, bringing diamonds home for her family, and finally even securing enough mineral rights for them to be _rich_!

Tears dripped from Applejack's eyes as she felt like the world had betrayed her all over again. _It's not_ _ **fair!**_ She thought to herself. _I work every day, I go to bed exhausted every night, I work_ _ **so**_ _hard, and all I and my family get is poorer every month! But_ _ **SHE**_ _gets to do what she likes so much, exploring outside on the mountain, and_ _ **SHE**_ _ends up rich?! How can_ _ **that**_ _really be the_ _ **right answer**_ _?! Shouldn't somepony have_ _ **told**_ _me-!_

Applejack sat still and spent several minutes with a clenched jaw, trying very hard not to cry. For a few minutes after that, she began to wonder whether she should rip the journal to pieces...it would be revenge on Twilight for sure, but then again: wouldn't that break the truce? Fluttershy _had_ saved their lives and deserved better than to have to watch her and Twilight fight...just the thought of Fluttershy and her fragile-looking face deflated Applejack's lust for revenge.

 _Even if tearing this journal up is the right move_ , Applejack thought, _I should finish reading it first. It's not like I can read it_ _ **after**_ _it's been torn up..._

Again, almost all the entries in Twilight's journal were listing places on the mountain that she'd looked for caves. Only occasionally did they find a diamond, but the moments when they did were almost exactly like the ones before: they saved most of the money, replaced a piece of exploration gear if they had to, and felt renewed motivation to continue.

Apparently, this kind of thing had gone on for a few years at least, but there was a change in the journal's tone as time went on: Twilight's exploration of the mountain wasn't just aimless wandering, but a systematic search for the cave system's entrance. And every place they found that _wasn't_ the entrance wasn't a reason to feel discouraged, but instead brought them one step closer to finding the entrance, because Twilight was searching by process of elimination. And Twilight was narrowing down the search more and more as the months turned to years, and the narrower the search got, the more excited Twilight got.

Applejack found herself getting more excited, too. Something about this journal drew her in and made her feel what Twilight was feeling and forget where she was and what she felt, at least for a while.

But Applejack began to remember where she was and what she felt when she got to the entry where Twilight finally found her prize:

 _Dear diary-_

 _The most AMAZING thing happened today! I mean-I was expecting it, I KNEW it'd be today because it was the last part of the mountain that we hadn't explored, but...we finally found it! The mother lode of Rainbow Diamonds!_

 _YEARS of scientific study, exploring and mapping...and now I'm writing this in a cave COVERED with diamonds! Soon, they'll be ALL OURS!_

 _I can't WAIT to see the look at Applejack's face when we come back richer than Filthy Rich himself! I can't tell you how_ _ **nasty**_ _and_ _ **mean**_ _that bumpkin is...! She NEEDS somepony to take her down a peg or three! Well, I'll be_ _ **just**_ _the pony to do that, just as soon as Shining Armor and I get a couple bagfuls of gems back to Ponyville! She thinks that sticking close to home and doing the same jobs over and over again is the best way to earn money and dig your family out of debt. To her, science is just a waste of time. Well, Applejack, tell me this: did all your mindless hard work get your family a cave FULL of diamonds?! Because my SCIENTIFIC hard work sure did!_

Applejack grit her teeth. _Hard work?_ she thought. _What you were doing doesn't sound like hard work at all!_ But then again, no matter how much Twilight had enjoyed it, the fact is that Twilight _had_ been walking all over the mountain looking for the cave system, and had basically walked over every inch of it in her searching...

Applejack's face went pale as she realized: Twilight _was_ working-she really was, and exploring was just another aspect of the work. To Twilight, exploration was as much a part of science as all the research and reading she'd done on air and earth magic, and what she was doing was _science_.

Applejack squinted her eyes shut in fury as she remembered how little she'd paid attention to science courses when she was in school. She'd always figured it couldn't do her a lick of good, because working hard at her parents' farm was her destiny. But now she saw that science and hard work had given Twilight a much better life than she was able to give herself and her family through old-fashioned elbow grease.

She didn't know what color her face was turning, but she knew she didn't like it.

She read on:

 _Getting these diamonds sold off and converted into silver and gold bits is gonna be pretty easy, and I made it a point to figure out who to talk to and...well, I won't mince words: whose frog to grease so we can get EXCLUSIVE mineral rights, and get them fast! Wow...the thought of all these gems, all belonging to MY FAMILY!_

Applejack smirked at last. _Bribery, eh?_ she thought. _It figures you'd get into that kind of thing. Well, my family may be poor, but at least we're_ _ **honest**_ _! And I wouldn't trade_ _ **that**_ _for all the diamonds in the mountain, no_ _ **sir!**_

Applejack kept reading that entry and kept going into the next one after that:

 _It doesn't even bother me that I tore my rain poncho by accident on the way here-I can buy a better one, now! Those ponchos...I had to work hard at dad's bookbinding shop and save up for MONTHS just to buy my first one! I didn't get to eat anything sweet for that whole time, because every cent I could scrape had to go to buying exploration gear...actually, it represented a pretty big investment...if I weren't sitting in a cave full of diamonds right now, I'd probably be REALLY disappointed, but now that I'm here-all that means is that I can use the space in my saddlebags that otherwise would've been taken up by that poncho to hold more diamonds! Ooo, we'll be able to pay more than half the mortgage off with just our first load!_

 _I've triangulated exactly where the cave mouth is, and the way the mineral rights are set up legally, we'll get the rights to this whole cave system if we can get the rights to this cave mouth. We are on EASY STREET!_

 _...Actually, I don't even know what we'll_ _ **do**_ _with all that money after we pay off our debts... I mean, there's at_ _ **least**_ _hundreds of times more value in this cave system than the worth of our house; we'll_ _ **literally**_ _have_ _ **tons**_ _of money after the mortgage gets paid! How are we even going to_ _ **spend**_ _that much money?! I sure can't think what we'll do with it right now, but I guess we'll have to think of something!_

 _Oh-before I forget, Shining Armor did something_ _ **very**_ _sweet for me while we were finding this cave: a storm surprised us just after we'd gotten out of a thicket, and I pulled my poncho out of my bag so fast, I wasn't paying attention, and it got caught on my pick, and I accidentally tore my poncho in two! I was_ _ **so**_ _afraid I'd catch a nasty cold, or even pneumonia! I was huddled down on the ground, covering my head with my hooves-and then Shining Armor stood above me and wrapped his poncho around me to keep me dry! It was_ _ **so**_ _warm and cozy-it makes me wonder why we didn't do that_ _ **every**_ _time we went up the mountain! Shoot...I'm going to need to do something sweet for him, won't I? I wonder if I can find his favorite vegetables at the farmer's market for dinner tonight? I know he likes masculine dishes like grilled vegetables...he's certainly earned it for believing in me and going with me up the mountain all this time, saving my life, and risking_ _ **his**_ _life time and again!_

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I can't believe it! It's so_ _ **awful**_ _...!_

 _I ought to be going to bed happy after our discovery, but I just_ _ **know**_ _I'm going to be crying myself to sleep...!_

 _Filthy Rich lives up to the "Filthy" part of his name, all right! He slapped Section 63 on us, and he's got a legal excuse just because our last mortgage payment before this one was an hour late!_ _ **ONE STUPID HOUR!**_ _And now he's trying to get the mineral rights to OUR diamond cave! It's_ _ **so**_ _not fair-if he wanted that cave, he could've hired ponies to go out and explore for it, himself!_ _ **I**_ _did the hard work of researching air and earth magic to prove those diamonds existed! Shining Armor and I did the_ _ **years**_ _of exploring that it took to_ _ **find**_ _it-and now_ _ **he**_ _wants to swoop in and_ _ **take it from us?! And the law is on his side?!**_

Applejack's jaw dropped at the next sentence:

 _I feel like the whole world just betrayed me!_

...That was just how _Applejack_ had felt when they found the diamond mines in the first place! Twilight felt that, _**too**_? ...Applejack _tried_ to bring herself to believe that Twilight deserved what she got, but after everything she'd read, she couldn't...she just _couldn't!_

She read on:

 _I feel like the whole world just betrayed me!_ _ **We**_ _do the work and somepony_ _ **else**_ _gets rich?! Why even_ _ **do**_ _this work in the first place if somepony else is just going to take it all away from you?! What's the_ _ **point?!**_

 _Ugh...! I have this idea in the back of my mind that Applejack was the one who told Filthy Rich all about our cave so that he'd know to do this, but...but it was probably ME, bragging in front of the whole town that we had those mineral rights, that tipped him off. Either way, I've brought this onto myself: if I'd kept my mouth shut until_ _ **after**_ _the mortgage was fully paid off, then Filthy Rich wouldn't have any way of stealing those mineral rights from us! A few days-if I'd_ _ **just**_ _waited a few days, I and my family would be_ _ **safe!**_

Tears again stained the page, and Applejack had to turn the page before she could read on. She didn't know whether to have her eyes as big as saucers from seeing Twilight's perspective of the second-worst moment of her life, or to have them squinted half-shut in fury for when Twilight had rubbed her wealth in her face, but she kept on reading.

 _Even the moment I should be proud of right now, the moment where I took Applejack down a peg, I can't feel proud of, anymore. And it's not just because I put my_ _ **family**_ _in danger when I opened my big mouth, either: I sent her running away crying, and now I'm feeling the same way, and I can't feel proud of doing that to somepony else, anymore. Is this_ _ **karma**_ _?! I thought_ _ **I**_ _was delivering a heaping helping of karma to Applejack when I took her down a peg; she's the nastiest jerkface you could hope never to meet!_

Applejack scowled. "Now, you see here," she said out loud. She checked herself, realizing she didn't want to wake Twilight or Shining Armor, or even Fluttershy, and continued in thought instead of with her lips: _I've never done a_ _ **single**_ _mean thing to you that_ _ **you**_ _didn't start, yourself! It's all happening because_ _ **you**_ _always insist on thinking that_ _ **everything**_ _I do is done with the worst intentions! Stop acting like_ _ **I'm**_ _the jerkface here!_

Applejack's tone shifted. _You're_ _ **right**_ _on the edge, Twilight. You're almost ready to realize that_ _ **you're**_ _the real jerkface, and that you've been it the whole time. If you just,_ _ **just**_ _were ready to acknowledge that your attitude is the problem, that_ _ **you**_ _need to change, then maybe,_ _ **maybe**_ _we came make some progress!_

Applejack shook her head, realizing for the first time since she started her mental rant that Twilight couldn't hear her, and that it was just as well, because she would just get defensive and refuse to believe her if she'd said this to her face.

She kept reading:

 _There's one silver lining to all this: the bankruptcy law gives us 24 hours to pay up. I've run through the calculations, and with just the two of us, Shining Armor and I can't carry enough diamonds to pay off the full amount, but three ponies can, and Shining Armor says that he and Dad have arranged for a third pony to help us. If we can_ _ **just**_ _get enough diamonds back from that cave in time (and we probably can, but the weather up there can be unpredictable), then Filthy Rich can't touch us, and we get to keep the cave...our work_ _ **won't**_ _be for nothing!_

 _Oooo, I hope I can sleep...I'm so nervous!_

Applejack found herself hoping Twilight could sleep.

She came to the final entry in the journal before the blank pages began, still waiting for future events to happen and get written about:

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I'm so glad I have_ _ **you**_ _-I've_ _ **never**_ _felt so alone, before!_

 _Where do I begin...?_

 _First of all, Shining Armor practically stabbed me in the back. Dad, too, for that matter. I don't think it could've been much worse if he'd taken the mineral rights all for himself and left me with_ _ **nothing!**_ _The pony he hired? It was only the queen of jerkfaces herself,_ _ **Applejack! APPLEJACK!**_ _They hired_ _ **her?!**_

 _ **She's**_ _the pony who wished our whole family would end up on the auction block! ...I forgot to write that in yesterday, but right before I gave her a gold coin to prove to her that science works, she said she hoped we'd go bankrupt, and that our whole family would end up auctioned off as indentured servants! She said she'd_ _ **laugh**_ _when that happened!_

 _Okay-there's no_ _ **way**_ _it's karma that's biting me right now: there's no doubt about it; only jerkfaces would wish things like_ _ **THAT**_ _on other ponies!_

 _Right now, she's standing just on the other side of Shining Armor. It's pouring down rain right now, so we're huddled together, we can't move, and I'm bored, so I'm writing this here. Investing in this new poncho was a_ _ **VERY**_ _good idea; I'm cozy and warm and there's enough space to write under this without that jerkface seeing a single thing I'm writing! ...That's about the only good thing about all this..._

 _Know what the worst part is? I feel so_ _ **alone**_ _! It's like my whole family turned against me. It's like they didn't even_ _ **try**_ _to find a better way of getting the mortgage paid off than sending me on a trip with_ _ **Applejack!**_

Applejack snorted. _I sure know_ _ **that**_ _feeling!_ she thought to herself. _**My**_ _family sent me with_ _ **you**_ _, didn't they? I work my tail off every day for them, and_ _ **this**_ _is the thanks I get for that!_ _ **I'm**_ _the one who's alone out here!_ She kept reading:

 _If Shining Armor didn't insist on taking Applejack's side every time we have an argument, then I wouldn't be alone, up here. But he keeps shutting_ _ **ME**_ _down! He's my_ _ **brother**_ _for pete's sake! He's always had my back covered before, even_ _ **literally**_ _yesterday. But today? The one time in my life when I most_ _ **need**_ _somepony backing me up? He's_ _ **not**_ _on my side, and it's grinding me up even more than being within ten feet of Applejack is grinding me up!_

 _Applejack's got this huge trench coat and cowboy hat on-at first, it was really funny and even satisfying to watch her struggling with the rain: her hat has this big cutout on the front of it that was letting the rain pour down onto her nose. Splat-splat-splat right between her nostrils! It was_ _ **so funny**_ _to watch her reacting to that, wiggling her nose all over the place to try to dry it off, only for more raindrops to tap it and get it soaking wet...! Then she tilted her head down to try to keep the rain off her nose, and that just exposed the back of her neck! It was_ _ **hilarious**_ _to watch her shuddering and gasping and squirming under the rain!_

 _At least, it was hilarious at first...then after a few minutes, I actually started to feel sorry for her...I mean, how would_ _ **I**_ _feel if I was getting rained on and didn't have a way of keeping myself dry? ...The only time I can think of where that happened was the moment where Shining Armor was dangling off the cliff, or...or yesterday where Shining Armor kept me warm and dry... Yeah, those were about as un-fun as you can get, so I decided to help Applejack by telling her to turn up her collars so she can keep her neck covered; then she can tilt her head down and keep her nose dry._

 _But that just proves I hadn't learned my lesson:_ _ **never**_ _try to be nice to Applejack! She turned her collars up all right, and she could keep the rain off her nose, but then she spat at me! Of course, spitting doesn't do much to a pony who's already in a raincoat, but_ _ **still**_ _! I made a face at her, and she made faces back at me, and it kept going until Shining Armor put a stop to it._

 _After that, I got bored, and started writing._

 _This whole trip is like walking through Tartarus! At_ _ **least**_ _Applejack is being quiet now...is she'd just keep her big mouth shut, this trip_ _ **might**_ _be bearable!_

That was the end of the journal. Applejack scowled. _Where's the entry where_ _ **you**_ _said that you wish_ _ **I**_ _would jump off a cliff?_ __she thought. _You think_ _ **I'm**_ _the jerkface when_ _ **you**_ _wished_ _ **death**_ _on me?!_

Applejack shook her head. _Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. You're_ _ **just**_ _on the cusp of realizing that_ _ **you**_ _are the real jerkface! How can you_ _ **not**_ _see it?! Seriously,_ _ **how?!**_ _It's only jerkfaces that wish awful things on other ponies and their families like that! And you're_ _ **refusing**_ _to realize that you're the jerkface! Why, if_ _ **I**_ _wished something horrible on your family, I wouldn't pretend-_

Then Applejack remembered what she'd said the previous day: "Your family is going to end up on that auction block next, and when you get there, I will _laugh!_ "

There was a long pause. Applejack couldn't tell whether her face was turning white or green.

Finally, she re-read the last journal entry, and saw that Twilight really _had_ been trying to be nice to her. She re-read the journal entry where Twilight had offered _her_ ice cream when she couldn't afford it herself, and realized that she'd been trying to be nice _then_ , too.

Applejack tried to choke back the tears and shudders that were coming over her as she realized: she and Twilight really _were_ the same. They _both_ always assumed the worst of the other's intentions; the same wall around Twilight's heart that caused any kindness on Applejack's part to bounce off was also built around Applejack's heart, causing kindness on Twilight's part to bounce right off, too. They were _both_ exasperated by the other's inability to understand. _They had both been jerkfaces to each other._

Then Applejack thought: when a bear had _actually_ shown up in response to Applejack's wish to be eaten by a bear, Applejack _immediately_ knew that she hadn't meant her wish. So maybe, just _maybe_ , Twilight hadn't meant it when she'd wished Applejack would jump off a cliff.

No- _not maybe._ Twilight had been crying her eyes out after Shining Armor told her not to say things like that and told her she was a better mare than that. She _hadn't_ meant it. She wasn't any more of a jerkface than Applejack herself was.

Applejack was horrified at herself and at Twilight for this, but now an even scarier question entered her mind:

 _ **NOW**_ _what do I do?!_


	7. Chapter 7

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Applejack felt _so_ tired-not just from walking and climbing and danger all day, but emotionally exhausted from having some _very_ saddening epiphanies from reading Twilight's journal...and from what she'd written in response. Applejack didn't know what would happen next, but she did know she _needed_ to sleep, and _soon_.

She walked back to the spot where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Shining Armor were sleeping. They hadn't brought bedrolls with them, so they had to improvise ways to keep warm in that cave: Shining Armor was wearing his rainsuit, Fluttershy was wrapped up in Twilight's cape, and Twilight herself was curled up next to Shining Armor with her towel and Shining Armor's towel wrapped around her to _try_ to keep warm.

Applejack couldn't help but feel moved by this sight-this was the pony who had written all those words that had really reached her, and here she was, asleep and snuggled by the brother she loved so much. She could relate; she loved Big Mackintosh a lot, and she'd been sleeping in the same bed with him since she'd been a toddler, just like Twilight and Shining Armor shared their bed!

But...Twilight needed to see what Applejack had written back to her at some point, and the sooner, the better.

Applejack gently put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder and kept giving her a little shake until she stirred and looked up at her. "Your shift," Applejack whispered.

Twilight frowned, said nothing, and slowly walked away, with the towels still wrapped around her. She shuddered audibly.

"Hey," Applejack called after her, starting to take her duster off. "Wanna trade? You wear my duster and I sleep in your towels?"

Twilight scowled at her. "If I wore anything _you'd_ been wearing, I'd need to take a _bath_!" she spat.

Applejack grew sad-she'd wanted to extend the olive branch to Twilight, but from the way she was reacting, it probably wouldn't work. Some part of her wanted to return fire with a snappy comeback, but that wouldn't accomplish _anything_. If anything, it'd ruin her chances of a peaceful trip. So Applejack just stayed silent, lay down in the spot where Twilight had been lying, and closed her eyes. Even though she was anxious to know what would happen next, she was so exhausted that she almost immediately fell asleep.

Twilight lazily walked toward the light of Shining Armor's lantern in the tunnel and lay down next to it, hoping that curling up would give the towels less area to cover and keep her a little warmer-then she perked up immediately when she saw _her journal_ , safe and sitting right next to that lantern! She scooped the journal up in her hooves and hugged it to her chest like a teddy bear...but then she heard a clatter on the rocky ground: her writing-bracelet had fallen out from inside her journal, and her pen was sticking out between the pages.

 _What?_ Twilight wondered. _The last time I saw my pen and my bracelet, they were with_ _ **me**_ _in my saddlebags! How did they get_ _ **here?**_ _Wait... HOW did my_ _ **journal**_ _get here?_

Twilight opened the journal to the page where her pen was sticking out, and saw hoofwriting that _wasn't hers_. She was _horrified!_ Somepony who _wasn't her_ had been messing with her journal-reading it _and_ writing in it! _**WHO?!**_

The only way to get some answers was to read what that _thief_ and _spy_ had written...!

 _Dear Twilight-_

 _...Oh, I'm having_ _ **so**_ _much trouble figuring out what to write, here! I've read your whole journal, front-to-back, and it's shown me things about you I never would've guessed. I'd always figured you were just_ _ **playing**_ _at being explorers on Rainbow Mountain, that it was all a just a big game to you, and that you and Shining Armor were playing all day like foals while your parents were slaving away, trying to turn an honest living!_

 _But then I read about how much work you did just learning that diamonds were up on the mountain, how systematically you searched it-you've been_ _ **working**_ _all these years, and I didn't see it! You're not_ _ **lazy**_ _at all; you even made_ _ **me**_ _look lazy when_ _ **you**_ _were working, even while you were bedridden with a broken leg!_

 _But that's not the really important thing I learned from reading this...Twilight, the moment when I offered you a little taste of ice cream a few years ago...I was trying to teach you a lesson. ...That didn't sound right at all, but now that I've written it, I can't take it back, but what I_ _ **meant**_ _was: I wanted to teach you that good things come from working hard. It was the lesson my parents taught me when I graduated from school: they gave me one tiny taste of ice cream, and then they told me I had to work and earn money and buy my own ice cream with my own hard-earned money if I wanted ice cream. I learned that lesson from them, and back in those days, before money got so tight, I had ice cream just about every week when I got my allowance, and I thought it tasted_ _ **better**_ _when I knew I'd earned every bite, and I wanted to share that lesson with you. I really_ _ **was**_ _trying to be nice-and the moment where I gobbled it all up? I just didn't want you to steal any from me...I'm sorry I hurt you, Twilight, and if I'd known it'd do more harm than good to only give you one little bite, I swear, I wouldn't have done it!_

 _...No, that's not even the most important thing I learned from reading this journal, Twilight; I'm rambling..._

 _What I learned, is that the reason we hate each other so much is that there's a kind of a wall around our hearts. ...I'm saying this very badly, but here's what it amounts to: I really_ _ **was**_ _trying to be nice when I gave you a tiny taste of ice cream and offered you apple seeds. I was trying to teach you about the rewards of hard work and give you free snacks if you just wait for the seeds to grow and water them every day. But all you saw was me giving you a painful reminder of what you can't afford anymore and an apple core-which just looked like garbage to you; you didn't see the seeds inside the core. It's like...like there was a wall around your heart, a wall made of your expectations, that made you think I was being mean every time I tried to be nice, so any kindness from me just bounces right off._

 _But it's not just you-I've had a wall around_ _ **my**_ _heart all this time, too: when you invited me out for ice cream that day you found three diamonds...I didn't see the kindness in you, either. All I saw was a reward I thought I shouldn't get because my family wasn't doing well financially at the time, and...looking back on it now, that was a_ _ **stupid**_ _reason to turn you down. I should've just gone with you and accepted your generosity; we might not even be enemies right now if I had just_ _ **done**_ _that!_ _ **And**_ _I didn't see the kindness when you told me just yesterday to turn up my collars while it was raining. I was expecting everything you did to me would be to make me feel bad, or insult me, or push me down. And that expectation meant...I just couldn't see it when you really_ _ **did**_ _try to be nice to me, just like you couldn't see it when I tried to be nice to you. At least...I couldn't see it until after I'd read your diary._

 _I guess we've both ended up becoming the thing the other was expecting us to be. I mean, I know you really did want it to hurt when you spent a gold bit for one apple, and you know I really wanted it to hurt when I said I'd laugh when your family ended up on the auction block, and I really wanted it to hurt when I stole this journal yesterday while you and your brother were distracted crying...but I just can't want that anymore. And I know you really wanted it to hurt when you said you wished I'd jump off a cliff yesterday...yeah, I overheard your whole talk with Shining Armor while I was emptying my guts off a cliff just out of sight. When I heard Shining Armor yell at you that you're a better mare than the kind of mare who wishes death on another pony, I really thought he was wrong...but after reading this journal, I'm not so sure._

 _I'm sorry for bringing out the worst in you, Twilight, and I'm_ _ **done**_ _making this trip awful for you. I'm going to follow ground rule one: if it's not important to us getting back home with saddlebags full of gemstones, I'm not even going to open my mouth. And I'm honoring the truce we made for Fluttershy's sake._

 _ **And**_ _I'm giving you back your journal. I'm sorry for stealing it. Now I know why it means so much to you._

 _All I ask is you honor the truce, too, for Fluttershy's sake if not for mine or for yours, and that you honor ground rule one, too._

 _I feel like there's so much more to talk about-I've felt the same kinds of fear you felt when I saw the silo fall onto Big Mackintosh, I've been feeling like I'm all alone this whole trip too, and I felt like the world and my family betrayed me, just like you did, and I know what it's like to get so upset that you say things you don't mean-I knew I didn't mean that I wished to be eaten by a bear the moment I saw that bear, so I know you didn't mean it when you said you wished I'd jump off a cliff..._

 _But...I'm too tired to write any more. I'm leaving this journal here so you'll find it during your shift keeping watch, and I'll wake you up first so you'll find it instead of Shining Armor or Fluttershy._

...That was all Applejack had written.

Twilight stared at that hoofwriting with a sense of _violation_. **Applejack** , the pony she liked least in Ponyville (except for Filthy Rich), had _stolen her journal_ , her most prized possession! And now _she_ was accusing _her_ of being a jerkface, too?

Twilight tried to clear her head-whenever she wanted to clear her head, she always wrote in her journal, and now here it was, safe and sound (though sullied by Applejack's touch), so it was all she could do...

 _Dear Diary-_

 _I was SO glad when I found you on the ground, here in the tunnel-I was afraid I'd left you out on Rainbow Mountain to get ruined in the rain! But when I found out APPLEJACK took you away from me...!_

 _Ugh! I can't BELIEVE her! STEALING MY DIARY!? READING IT?! And it wasn't enough just to read it, no-no-no-she had to SCRIBBLE ALL OVER YOU, didn't she? All that talk about walls around hearts, and how she tried to be nice to me-HER?_ _ **Nice**_ _?! Give me a_ _ **break**_ _! If she'd wanted to be nice, she wouldn't have stolen you-ugh...okay, she gave you back to me, I'll give her_ _ **that**_ _much._

 _I'll admit I was trying to take her down a peg when I spent that gold coin. And maybe I went too far when I said she should jump off a cliff, but honestly...?_

Twilight re-read Applejack's whole entry in her journal. She remembered the moment when Applejack had offered her ice cream, and when she'd offered her some, too. She remembered the moment where Applejack had struggled in the rain and when she'd tried, for just one minute, to be nice. _Was it really true?_ Twilight wondered. _Would I really be blind to Applejack trying to be nice to me for a change?_ Then she read the line she'd written minutes ago: _okay, she gave you back to me_...

Twilight's face went pale.

... _Applejack_...she really _was_ trying to be nice for once, and Twilight hadn't been able to see it at all until she'd taken a good, hard look at herself.

A tear splattered the page as she realized: _she was_ _ **exactly**_ _as bad as Applejack_.

It took her a while to process this. She remembered the moment when she'd cried into Shining Armor's shoulder on the mountain, just after the rain, and it was _then_ that she had begun to realize that she really was as awful as Applejack was, but she had refused to admit it to herself back on the mountain.

But now, here in this cave, shivering in the cold, alone, with nopony to see her and no one to look at her and judge her except herself, Twilight could finally admit it to herself: she was exactly as bad as Applejack.

Her heart heavy and her mind _aching_ to get this thought out, she began writing again:

 _I'm just kidding myself. I'm no better than she is at all!_

 _Okay, okay-I have to write this down...let me start from the time where the rain stopped-the same rain that was happening in my last entry. As soon as the rocks were dry, Applejack went away for a few minutes to relieve herself. I confronted Shining Armor about why he wasn't taking my side every time Applejack and I had an argument; he was making me feel like I was all alone, and that was_ _ **especially**_ _painful, because whenever we explored before, we were always such a team...I always felt like I could trust him with anything, but now, every time we fought, he always tried to shut me down. Who am I supposed to trust_ _ **now?!**_

 _He told me that Big Mackintosh was afraid Applejack was at the end of her rope, and that she might jump off a cliff if she were pushed too far emotionally, so_ that's _why he kept shutting me up every time we got in an argument. I said words that I regretted right away, but at the time, I thought I'd meant them: "Good riddance!"_

 _Isn't that_ _ **worse**_ _than Applejack wishing my family were on the auction block?_

 _And now that I've read everything Applejack wrote about how she couldn't see my kindness and I couldn't see hers...and how I realized I wasn't seeing her kindness at first when she gave you back to me..._

Twilight stopped and let more tears drip off her snoot as she sniffled.

 _I'm a_ _ **horrible**_ _pony!_

For a long time, Twilight couldn't write any more. She cried again, with no shoulders to cry on, and left her journal's page tear-stained again.

She turned the page.

 _These pages are stained with tears_ _ **way**_ _too often! And too often, it's my own fault-if I'd kept my snoot shut for just a few more days, we wouldn't be in this mess. If I hadn't been blind to Applejack's kindness, we wouldn't be enemies._

 _Well, enough is enough-I'm_ _ **done**_ _doing these things to myself and other ponies around me! I'm_ _ **done! I'm DONE!**_

Twilight took a deep breath and paused her writing for a minute or so.

 _...It felt good to write that..._

 _Maybe I'll feel better if I write about the other things that happened since then? I mean, quite a bit happened..._

Twilight wrote about filling their saddlebags with diamonds, and the bear, and how she desperately used a Rainbow Diamond to try to get them away from the bear, and how Fluttershy saved them, how she'd led them to a cave, and finally how she'd cried when her journal was missing, and finally how she'd found it.

 _So...here we are,_ Twilight finished. _Hoping that we'll be able to find a gems dealer somewhere in Unicornia who has a mountain ruby that we can trade these diamonds for. Even if it takes every diamond in our bags, we can just fill them up again when we get back to our cave._

 _I sure hope Mom and Dad aren't too worried...but how can they_ _ **not**_ _be? I mean, everything is at stake, here...! Oooo...I wish we had some way to tell them that we're okay..._

Twilight was beginning to get very sleepy again, and looked at the sky outside the cave mouth. Constellations that had been on the horizon when she started were now halfway up the sky; she'd stood watch long enough.

She picked up her journal and crept back to the place where Shining Armor, Fluttershy, and Applejack were sleeping...and there was Applejack, curled up next to _her brother_ , side-to-side and snout-to-snout...just like how she'd always slept next to him when they were adventuring. And _he_ was sleeping next to _her_ as if she were _his_ sister!

She stopped herself...Shining Armor was used to sleeping next to his sister, and Applejack was used to sleeping next to her brother-they were both asleep, and didn't know any better.

Finally, she decided that she'd need to wake up either Fluttershy or Shining Armor for a shift...and if she woke Fluttershy up, then Twilight could sleep next to Shining Armor and keep a little warmer, _and_ she _wouldn't_ be sleeping next to _Applejack_...

She gently woke Fluttershy up; she started awake with a little gasp the moment Twilight touched her. Twilight whispered to her, "It's just me-one of the earth ponies who you saved yesterday! We're taking turns keeping watch while the other three sleep; I just finished my turn. Can you keep watch for a couple of hours?"

Fluttershy whispered back, "Okay," and trotted up the tunnel into the light of Shining Armor's lantern.

Twilight curled up next to her brother, put her journal under her head like a pillow, tried to get the towels over him a little so that she could share some body heat with him, and closed her eyes.

She must have slept through the night, because the next thing she knew, Shining Armor was shaking her awake; it was again time for them to move.

Twilight half-remembered finding her journal in the night, reading Applejack's letter, and coming to the conclusion that she was just as awful as Applejack. She took a look at Applejack as she was packing the towels into her saddlebags, and their eyes met. Both mares froze, unable to think how to respond to the other. Neither of them scowled, but they both looked very defensive.

Finally, Applejack swallowed hard and whispered, "Ground rule one?"

There was a pause, while Twilight tried to think how to react. Some part of her wanted to give a snappy comeback, but after all that she had read, she was too ashamed to. If there was going to be a first shot fired, it wouldn't be from Twilight-she'd made her mind up of _that_. So she just whispered back, "Ground rule one."

After that, they again began following Fluttershy, grabbing mouthfuls of grass or wild oat as they could. They were so sleepy, but then something happened that got them fully awake again: Applejack looked over her shoulder, and rushing toward her, mouth slavering, was the same bear as before! She screamed and bolted.

Fluttershy turned around and scowled at the bear. He stopped in his tracks and seemed to get sadder. "Just _yesterday_ I told you it wasn't nice to eat ponies!"

The bear looked down at the ground and gave off a few chastened grunts.

Applejack turned around, her face pale. "What did he say?" she asked between gasps.

"Says 'e can't help it!" Fluttershy translated as she sent the bear away again. "Something smells awfully good to him on your back!"

" _My back?!_ " Applejack let down her saddlebags. "What's on my back?!"

Shining Armor's jaw dropped. He tugged a small white patch off of Applejack's back with his hoof. Applejack yelped as it ripped at her fur. Twilight bit back the urge to say "Good one, bro!"

Shining Armor held the patch up, and his teeth clenched: "This...it's a bear musk patch!"

"Bear musk?" Applejack asked.

"Their scent attracts bears. Explorers sometimes set them up way off the path they're taking to attract bears to someplace _away_ from them." He turned to Applejack with a horrified look on his face. "Did _you_ put this on your back? Did _you_ deliberately attract a bear to us?"

Applejack shrank back, her face equally horrified. "NO! No, I didn't even know those patches _existed! I-_ "

Twilight remembered Applejack's entry in her journal, so she decided to do something very risky, something she'd told herself _never_ to do: she did something kind for Applejack. "She _didn't_ want this!" Twilight insisted to her brother. " _Trust_ me!"

For a moment, Shining Armor stared at Twilight, not sure _why_ she was defending Applejack.

Then something clicked in Applejack's mind. "Wait...Silver Spoon!"

Twilight and Shining Armor turned to her.

"Silver Spoon slapped me on the back while we were just about to leave, and she slapped me at just that spot on my back. And...and when I tried to leave when she gave you two an extra 48 hours, she threatened me-she said she'd slap Section 63 on _my_ family if I didn't go with you. I was too afraid to ask why-but it must've been because she put this patch on me!"

Shining Armor and Twilight stared at her for a moment.

"Please-" Applejack added, "Don't tell _anypony_ I told you all this; Silver Spoon said she'd hit my family with Section 63 if I told anypony she'd threatened me!"

Shining Armor swallowed hard. "Filthy Rich tried to _kill_ us."

Applejack nodded.

Twilight spoke up: "Don't worry. We won't tell anypony that you told us this, but we _will_ tell _everypony_ that he had Silver Spoon put that patch on you! Once they know her boss is a _murderer,_ they'll run him clean out of town, and _nopony_ will ever have to pay him another red cent! _Everypony_ hates him."

Fluttershy whimpered, shrank down toward the ground, and looked down in fear. "Does _'e_ have a curse on 'im that makes everypony hate _'im_ , too?"

They _instantly_ softened their tones. Applejack put her hoof under Fluttershy's chin and gently lifted it up. "It's _not_ a curse that makes us hate Filthy Rich. What makes us hate Filthy Rich is because he's greedy, horribly mean to everypony else who owes him money, and he's willing to _kill_ if it means he can get his filthy hooves on more money. You're _none_ of those things; you're kind, and brave, and probably you haven't even _thought_ about money in years! Don't worry-not about us hating _him!_ "

Fluttershy sniffled. Trembling, and gazing into Applejack's eyes, she whispered, "Thank you!"

At the word "money", it occurred to Twilight that she had no idea what kind of currency there was in Unicornia, nor how she could find out what value it had relative to the diamonds she was carrying. For that matter, who knew whether there'd be any unicorns desperate enough to steal the diamonds from them...?

Twilight decided to get some answers from Fluttershy if she could, so as they began moving again, she asked, "I guess you must be curious about all the diamonds we're carrying. My brother and I were exploring a mountain in Ponyland, and we discovered a cave FULL of diamonds. We were going to take three bagfuls back to sell in our hometown so we can pay off a debt my family owes to Filthy Rich, but then that bear attacked us while we were still back on our world...he must've smelled that musk-patch...I knew we _had_ to get away, so I used a magic spell to take us to Unicornia:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_  
 _Through airless space be safely hurled_  
 _My party to another world!_

"All I had to do was hold a rainbow diamond in my hooves, say the spell, and then the diamond shattered, and off we went from Ponyland to Unicornia! That spell accidentally took the bear with us...the rest of our story, you already know."

Fluttershy said nothing in response, she just stared at Twilight, too afraid to speak, lest she say something that made Twilight hate her. It was clear to Twilight that conversation, at least with other ponies, wasn't Fluttershy's strong suit. She was even more defensive than _Twilight_ was when she was around _Applejack_!

Twilight felt awkward, so she started talking more about the spell: "Shining Armor found an old chest while we were exploring Rainbow Mountain, and there was a spellbook in that chest with that spell-and the funny thing about it is that you need to be holding a gem in order for the spell to work, and the question of which gem you're holding determines which world you teleport to. Rainbow diamonds get you here to Unicornia, star emeralds get you to Cumuland (where the pegasus ponies live), and a mountain ruby will get you back to Ponyland, where we're from.

"So...that's why we need a mountain ruby in order to get back to Ponyland so we can pay back our loan before Filthy Rich takes our home...and sells us all as slaves...and takes the mineral rights to our cave...ugh...I need to stop talking about this! Anyhow, just ruby will be enough. You wouldn't just happen to know what the value of a rainbow diamond is compared to a mountain ruby, would you?"

Fluttershy shook her head beneath her hood.

"...Right..."

The conversation was just a _little_ too awkward-Twilight decided that, when they got to Canterlot, they'd need to just ask directions from a local there to see where they could find a gems dealer.

As they approached Canterlot, they saw that the city was absolutely _huge_ compared to Ponyville. Buildings well over five stories tall towered over them with architecture like they'd never seen before, and more than once, they saw another floor being added to an existing building. Crowds of ponies were coming and going, markets were bustling, and Fluttershy was shivering inside Twilight's cape, terrified of meeting any other ponies-of which there were a _huge_ number!

"Don't worry," Shining Armor whispered to her. "Nopony will recognize you; they'll think you're an earth pony just like us. Just keep your hood up."

"Okay," she whimpered softly-so softly, Shining Armor could barely hear it over the bustle of the market.

Suddenly, Applejack felt a hoof on her shoulder. "Why hello!" an unfamiliar voice said. It was a tall, white-furred unicorn stallion. "I don't believe I've seen a mare without a horn before. I expect you're...shall we say, not from around here?"

Applejack was a little leery of this unicorn; he was acting a little _too_ chummy. But she answered, "We're explorers from Ponyland."

" _Ponyland_? Well, well, well. Not many ponies come from _that_ far away!"

Hoping to end the conversation politely, Applejack asked, "Can you direct us to a gems dealer?"

"A gems dealer, you say? I _might_ just be the stallion you're looking for," he answered, his horn glowing gently. "Are you buying, or selling?"

"Both," Shining Armor answered. "We're in the market for a mountain ruby-we only need one. Do you have one?"

"Well, I'd...have to see what we have in stock," the stallion answered neutrally. "What kinds of gems would _you_ be able to sell me?"

Twilight slipped her hoof into her saddlebags under her towels, and brought out a single rainbow diamond. For the briefest instant, she saw the stallion react with the beginnings of awe, but he checked himself. "I must say, not a bad stone. I'll give you ten silver unicoins for it!"

"Thanks," Twilight said, sensing that he might be trying to cheat them, "But we'd like to get a second opinion of its worth."

At that moment, a second unicorn stallion appeared, the same height and fur color as the first, but with different clothing and a different accent. "Such a _lovely_ stone! I'll give you a _hundred_ unicoins for that!"

The first stallion glared at the newcomer with a hint of annoyance.

Twilight smirked at him. "Maybe you misplaced a decimal point?"

"I'll offer a hundred and ten," the first stallion replied.

"A hundred ten, a hundred ten, do I hear one-twenty?" Twilight began auctioneering.

The second stallion answered, "I bid one-twenty!"

"Do I hear one-thirty?" Twilight asked.

The first stallion threw himself into the auction. "I bid a hundred and thirty!"

"A hundred and forty!"

"One-fifty, and that's my _final_ offer!" the first stallion insisted with finality.

"A hundred and fifty unicoins for the diamond. Going once, going twice-"

"I bid _ten thousand_ silver unicoins!" said a mare with white fur, coily purple hair, a nice dress, a more sophisticated-sounding accent, and a scowl on her face.

Fluttershy slowly shrank behind Shining Armor as this mare and her husband approached them.

" _Flim and Flam_! Honestly...you two! Taking advantage of these foreigners who don't know the true value of these gems! How _dare_ you?!"

Flim snorted. "Now, Rarity-have you forgotten your economics? Every item is _always_ worth _whatever a pony will pay for it_ -no more, no less!"

"Close your mouth and get out of here before I call the authorities!" Rarity growled with an icy glare. Without another word, Flim and Flam trotted away. Rarity eyed them until they were out of sight, then turned to Twilight. "It's for the best that you keep that gem out of sight until we get back to my office."

"Back to the office? Now?" her husband asked. A glowing bouquet of flowers that had been floating next to him shifted a little downwards as he asked.

"Our visit to the graveyard can wait another hour. That grave marker isn't going anywhere," she whispered back.

Twilight put the diamond back into her saddlebag and followed her. She noticed that Fluttershy was reluctant to follow, but she did-and always kept either Shining Armor, her, or Applejack between herself and Rarity. But she figured she'd better be polite, and turned her attention to Rarity. "Thank you _so_ much for helping us-we don't have _any_ idea what the relative values of gems are; I _knew_ we'd probably get swindled, and when the opening bid went from ten to a hundred, I knew he had been trying to cheat us...but I had _no_ idea by _how much_!"

Rarity shook her head. "You _really_ should look up the relative prices before you walk into a market like that! Oh-where are my manners? My name is Rarity, dealer of pearls and precious stones. This is my husband, Zephyr Breeze."

With a slight nod, he added, "Jeweler."

"We fell in love while plying our trades," Rarity explained with a slight blush. "They tell you not to mix your personal and professional lives, but...it really worked for us!" After a small giggle, she asked, "What about you?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my brother Shining Armor, and a friend of the family, Applejack. We're explorers from Ponyland."

Rarity's eyebrow went up. " _Ponyland_ , you say? Isn't that another planet?"

"Yes...my brother found an old chest while we were exploring, and it had a spellbook in it with a spell that you can use to go from one planet to another."

"Oo, _my!_ " Rarity gasped. She said nothing for a long time after that as they walked toward her dealership, and seemed lost in thought.

Twilight wondered why for a moment, then realized that Rarity was considering the implications of being able to travel from world to world. Twilight hadn't heard more than rumors and legends of ponies being able to go from one world to another, but there had always been an idea in the back of her mind that it happened from time to time. But when you consider that prices in one world could be low for a given item and high for that same item in another world, she realized it'd be _easy_ to get rich _very_ quickly if you had a reliable way of getting from one world to another, and knew the relative prices.

She was a little ashamed to realize that she'd never considered _that_ as a viable alternative to looking for the entrance to the diamond cave-but then she also realized that, until and unless she finds a sustainable source of mountain rubies, she _didn't_ have a reliable way of getting from world to world, so even if she _had_ thought of this idea, it wouldn't have made any difference.

The next thing Twilight knew, she was being shown into a _very_ nice-looking business, made to lay down her saddlebags, sit down on a very comfortable and expensive-looking couch, and served tea and food by a servant. The teacups were built for unicorns to use their magic on them, but she and Shining Armor and Applejack managed to find ways to get the hot liquid to their lips. _Now THIS is exploring!_ Twilight thought to herself, _Meeting important ponies, sitting down to_ _ **tea**_ _with them-_ _ **way**_ _better than getting rained on!_

 _For that matter,_ Twilight thought to herself, _THIS is what a real TOWN should be like! I've never seen so much construction and building in my_ _ **life**_ _before! I wonder if Ponyville could do this much building, if everypony didn't need to save every spare cent to pay down their debts...?_

After they'd finished their meal, Rarity said, "And now, down to business. I hope you'll take a _check_ for that diamond; ten thousand silver coins is _far_ more than four ponies can carry!"

"Actually, there's a different gem that we're in the market for," Twilight explained. She began to retell their story, but as she did so, Applejack felt a tug on her tail.

She turned around. She didn't see anyone there, and just as she was beginning to wonder whether she imagined that tug, she felt it again. She saw a yellow glow on the tip of her tail, and had _no_ idea what it was-until she looked up at Fluttershy. Her pleading eyes, a slight glow from her horn underneath her hood, and a glance toward the door told Applejack that she _desperately_ wanted to talk about something-in private.

"Excuse us, could we use your restroom?" Applejack interrupted awkwardly.

"But of course. Second door on your left. Do tell on, Miss Twilight!"

Applejack and Fluttershy slipped out of the room quietly and hid inside the restroom. "What's wrong, Fluttershy?"

"We've _got_ to get out of 'ere!" Fluttershy whimpered. " _These_ ponies were _especially_ mean to me when I was a filly!" Fluttershy squeaked. "There's no way we can trust _them,_ 'specially not with all your _gems_!"

Applejack gulped.


	8. Chapter 8

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

"A mountain covered with _storms_ , you say?" Rarity asked, astonished. "I've never _quite_ heard of _that_ , but there are two things that _do_ come close."

"What're those?" Twilight asked.

"Well, star emeralds are found in mountains that get frequent meteorite strikes. They're actually _less_ valuable than the mountain rubies you're after for that very reason: the meteorites have useful metals in them that can be mined, and they're a great deal _less_ likely to harm a pony than the hazards that mountain rubies present: they grow in mountains that get frequent earthquakes. Tunnels can shift or cave in at random, and it's _incredibly_ dangerous to go into those mountain caves to mine the rubies out-only unicorns who know how to wink out ever do so!"

"Wink out?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry-I'd forgotten that you'd never met a unicorn before today. Winking Out is probably what you would call 'teleporting'. It's not an easy spell to master; I've never even attempted it, myself."

Twilight rubbed her chin. "Couldn't they cast the world-teleporting spell and take the rubies to Ponyland? It'd get them out of the caves, and they could easily sell the rubies there and get diamonds so they could come back to Unicornia!"

"Actually, that's another thing that astonishes me about your story. You see, I've been trading in gems professionally since before I left my parents' home, and I've _never_ heard about this teleportation spell! If the four of you weren't here with no horns and accents that I'd never heard before, I shouldn't have believed it."

" _We_ can hardly believe we're here, ourselves," Shining Armor chuckled. "We'd always hoped one day to explore other worlds, but...well, we didn't expect it'd be _this_ soon!"

Twilight swallowed hard. Now was the moment of truth, and it wasn't clear whether they'd have enough diamonds to afford to buy the mountain ruby they so sorely needed. "What you said about mountain rubies being much more valuable than star emeralds..." she hesitated.

"Well, _much_ is a relative term. Carat-for-carat, assuming the same color and clarity, I'd say that mountain rubies are _about_ two-and-a-half times as valuable as star emeralds, on the whole," Rarity explained.

"...Yes, about that...what's the ratio of worth between rainbow diamonds like the one I showed you, and mountain rubies?"

"Well...again, assuming the same color and clarity...I'd say about one to fifty."

Twilight took a deep breath. "Just in case we don't have enough to exchange for a mountain ruby...can you take credit for a mountain ruby for whatever the difference turns out to be? I _think_ we have fifty rainbow diamonds between the three of our saddlebags, but just in-"

Rarity's eyes suddenly became as wide as saucers, and she spat her tea out in a fine spray. "You've _'ow_ many _doi_ amonds?!" she blurted. In a second, a servant entered the room to clean the spat-out tea off the wooden floor with a mop. Rarity shook her head a moment to try to clear it. "I'm sorry, you shocked me so much, I lost my _accent_ for a moment!" After taking a deep breath to compose herself, Rarity continued, "I don't think you understand: I didn't mean it takes fifty diamonds to equal the value of one ruby; I meant that fifty rubies equals the value of _one diamond_!"

Twilight's head spun. "It...it's the _other way around_ back in Ponyland!"

They were all silent for a few minutes as they thought over the implications of this. "Hold on a second," Shining Armor thought aloud. "I think I have a guess why the relative values are so different! Rarity, you say you've _never_ heard of storm-covered mountains with diamonds, but you _have_ heard of meteorite-pounded mountains with emeralds and earthquake-prone mountains with rubies?"

"Yes..."

"I just realized there's a pattern, here-you use rubies to get to Ponyland, but rubies are rare in Ponyland. You use diamonds to get to Unicornia, but diamonds are rare in Unicornia."

"What're you getting at?" Twilight asked.

"The pattern is that the world that you use the gems to get _to_ doesn't grow that kind of gem-I bet the reason that mountain rubies are so rare in Ponyland is because they can only be imported."

"And you think it's the same thing here:" Rarity continued, "Rainbow diamonds are rare because they never grow on Unicornia-they only exist when they're imported?"

"And," Shining Armor thought aloud, "What do you want to bet that star emeralds never grow in Cumuland?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Rarity agreed. "In fact, you might not believe this, but this is the first time I've _ever_ seen a rainbow diamond for myself, despite the fact that I've been in this business for _years_ -I sent Zephyr Breeze to go find his retired jewelcrafting master to have a look at the diamond you brought, because _she_ hasn't seen one, either!"

Shining Armor whistled. "She's spent a _lifetime_ cutting and setting gems, and she's never seen a rainbow diamond before?"

Rarity nodded. "That's just how _rare_ your diamonds are on this world. If you've honestly got _fifty_ , then I don't think there's enough wealth in this _whole business_ to _pay_ for them all!"

"Listen," Twilight insisted, "The price for rubies back in Ponyville is so high, just _one_ of them would be enough to pay our family's whole debt and free us from Filthy Rich's control forever-given the relative prices of gems in our two worlds, I think we should trade gem-for-gem instead of sticking to the market prices."

Rarity seemed to reel from this thought. "I can't help but feel like I'm _badly_ cheating you...!"

"We're cheating _you_ just as much!" Twilight insisted. A _wave_ of relief swept over Twilight as she realized that they were _finally_ home free-they'd not only have a way home, but they'd come back with _much, much_ more wealth than they'd otherwise have needed! Once again, the question popped up in Twilight's mind, _What are we even going to_ _ **do**_ _with that much_ _ **money**_ _?! I was having a hard time spending a few gold coins, but now, I could almost buy Ponyville! How can anypony even_ _ **spend**_ _that much money?!_

She felt a hoof nudging her on her back, and turned around. It was Applejack. She whispered into Twilight's ear, "Fluttershy needs to talk to you."

Twilight silently left the room, overwhelmed, but still feeling very relieved. She found Fluttershy huddled in the bathroom in a corner, trembling.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"No, I'm _not_ okay!" she whimpered back. "This is the 'ome of the two ponies who were the _meanest_ to me!"

"You mean...when you were in school, Rarity and Zephyr Breeze picked on you?"

" _'orribly!_ " she sobbed. "Just 'earin' their voices again makes me want to _cry_! If they knew 'ho I was...I don't even want to _think_ about what they'd _do_ to me!"

Twilight could hardly believe her ears. "Rarity...? Are you _sure_ this is the same Rarity you're thinking of? I mean, she's been nothing but polite and nice to us since we got here. She gave us tea and a meal, and she's helped us a _lot_ by letting us trade our diamonds for rubies. It's hard to picture _her_ being mean; she seems so _nice_!"

Fluttershy sniffled, and Twilight saw a few drops fall out of her hood. "That's the _worst_ part about me curse," she sobbed. "Just by being 'round me, other ponies lose all the stuff in them what makes them good and nice and kind...no matter 'ow nice I try to be, no matter 'ow nice they are to each other the rest of the time, the moment they see me, everything that's good in them is just... _gone_...!"

This thought turned Twilight's stomach: Fluttershy had _also_ been nothing but nice to her-she'd saved her life and her brother's life, and despite being terrified of other ponies, she'd stayed with Twilight and had led them to a city full of other ponies. She was very kind and very brave, but despite all her virtues, Fluttershy was a _corruptive influence-completely against her will_. It was no _wonder_ she had kept away from civilization!

Fluttershy continued, after a few sobs, "This 'hole town is better off without me! Whenever I'm 'ere, they turn all mean because they start to _'ate_ me!"

 _Hate_...Twilight thought about the message Applejack had written in her journal. How does hate start? It starts with the wrong assumptions about another pony. What if Fluttershy really _wasn't_ a corruptive influence at all, and she was just _assuming_ that she was? "Listen," Twilight began, hesitating. "...Would you believe me if I told you that Applejack and I hate each other?"

Fluttershy said nothing and held perfectly still, only blinking through eyes squinted half-shut with fear.

"She and I...we didn't see eye-to-eye on a few things...that's sort of how it started. Except we didn't really start to _hate_ each other until we...well, we made assumptions about each other. I started assuming everything she said or did to me was meant to hurt me, because...well, she did a few things that hurt, even though she didn't mean them to hurt. And she assumed everything I did or said to her was meant to hurt her, too, because a few things I did hurt her by accident, too. Eventually we both starting saying and doing nasty things to each other on purpose-each of us became what the other assumed she already was...

"I didn't even realize all this until last night-Applejack stole my journal while I was still in Ponyland, but after she read it while she was keeping watch last night...she read about all the times where I accidentally hurt her, and all the times where she accidentally hurt me. She had only ever seen them from her own perspective, but when she saw what they looked like to me...she realized that she didn't need to hate me anymore. She _couldn't_ hate me anymore, once she really got to know me by reading my journal. And if you showed yourself to Rarity and Zephyr Breeze, I don't think they'd be able to hate you anymore, either."

Fluttershy made a sound like she was about to cry. " _Please_ don't make me show myself to them!" she sobbed.

" _Make_ you?" Twilight gasped. "I...I didn't mean I was going to _make_ you do anything! How _could_ I make you? _You saved our lives_!"

There was a long pause in the conversation at this point. Fluttershy broke the silence after a few moments: "That's not the most important bit... You can't trust those two with your _diamonds_! They'll _take_ them!"

" _Take_ them?" Twilight swallowed hard-the relief she'd felt with the promise of mountain rubies turned into twisting, crushing fear. "She-she'd _do_ that? She told us that diamonds are worth much, much more than rubies here-would a pony honest enough to tell us that _really_ steal all our diamonds?"

"She stole the most precious thing in the world from _me_! She stole me teddy bear!"

"...Teddy bear?" Twilight asked. _Fluttershy must've been very young when this happened_ , Twilight thought.

"I never felt safe around other ponies unless I 'ad it with me," she whimpered, "And Rarity and me brother thought it'd be all in good fun to _take_ it from me! And everypony else just laughed at me...that's when I knew...they _all_ 'ated me, and everypony 'ho looked at me would 'ate me, and I _knew_ any grown-up 'ho I could've run to to ask for 'elp would 'ate me, too!" She couldn't hold back the tears, anymore, and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Twilight picked up a box of tissues from off the bathroom counter and slid it towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy gasped for a moment, looked down at the box, then looked back up at Twilight, then back down at the box, then began to cry even harder than before. It was as if Fluttershy had forgotten what the tissues were for!

Now Twilight felt _guilty_ that she'd been so happy and relieved a minute ago, while Fluttershy was stuck in the dark, miserable and terrified. But then she remembered Fluttershy's warning that Rarity wasn't to be trusted-was that _Fluttershy_ making assumptions about Rarity's intentions, again? ...But what if she was right about her?

"Listen," Twilight said softly. "If Rarity really is trying to steal our diamonds, then we need to get out of here quick without her catching on that we know. Did you tell Applejack that we can't trust her?"

Fluttershy nodded, tears dripping down her snout.

"Okay...I'll send Shining Armor in here so you can tell him, too, and I'll tell him to take his saddlebags with him-if she was telling the truth (she must've been from the way Flim and Flam were reacting), then we only need _one_ rainbow diamond in order to be able to trade for more than enough mountain rubies to get back home. If I send him with his saddlebags, then he'll be able to sneak some diamonds, or even a ruby to you-you can hide some gems in the pockets of my raincoat. She won't know you have them, so we can sneak them past her."

Fluttershy nodded in her understanding of the plan.

Twilight slipped out quietly and snuck back to the room where she'd left Shining Armor and Applejack. They weren't there; a servant was there who very professionally said to her, "Your brother and friend have joined madam Rarity in the gemstone vault in the lower level; I can escort you there."

"Please do," she answered as politely as she could. She followed the servant downstairs, and saw that Shining Armor and Applejack were loading their saddlebags up with precious mountain rubies behind a huge iron door with enormous locks that slid bolts several feet into the wall, and that they had already emptied their saddlebags of the diamonds. It was getting harder and harder to believe that Rarity had any intention of cheating them at all.

In a corner, holding up a magic lantern, was an aged pink unicorn mare with a giant pink diamond for her cutie mark, standing next to Zephyr Breeze and examining one of the rainbow diamonds. It glowed blue in the light of the lantern, with many other colors glittering alongside it. "What _fortune_ you've brought me, my old apprentice!" she finally declared. "Oh, I'd always _hoped_ I'd live to see one of these diamonds!"

"I could hardly believe it myself, Master," Zephyr agreed. Twilight noticed that, even though he was excited, he wasn't really smiling.

She didn't know what to make of _that_ , but she quickly remembered her plan with Fluttershy. She whispered to Shining Armor that he should see Fluttershy and take a pair of saddlebags with him. He shouldered his brim-full saddlebags and climbed out of the vault.

"Twilight," Rarity said, "This is Diamond Rose; Zephyr was her apprentice at jewelcrafting. She taught him everything he knows about the trade!"

" _You're_ the explorer who found these in Ponyland?" Diamond Rose asked, awed at Twilight and eyeing her forehead.

"Y-yes...well, my brother was with me every step of the way; I couldn't have explored Rainbow Mountain _alone_!" Twilight stammered.

"Oh, child, you and your brother have made an old mare _very_ happy!"

Twilight blushed. "I honestly didn't realize how rare rainbow diamonds _were_ in Unicornia until less than an hour ago!"

"Master," Zephyr said, still not smiling, "I want you to have one of these."

"Oh-! I _couldn't_! It's five years' wages-"

"And we have _dozens_ more," he insisted.

"We can _certainly_ afford a gift like this," Rarity agreed, "Married for just three months, and we're _already_ one of the richest families in Canterlot!"

"Oh _my_...! If I'm honest," Diamond Rose admitted, "There was _one_ thing I'd always wanted to do with one of these stones, if only I could get my hooves on one..."

"My tools are upstairs in the workshop," Zephyr told her. "They were _your_ tools once, so if you want to come out of retirement for one last piece, they'll be familiar to you."

"Bless your heart, you wonderful colt!" Diamond Rose said, beaming. Zephyr made an attempt at smiling back with a slight bow of respect, and with that, she hobbled off up the stairs.

Twilight watched her leave, and watched Fluttershy step aside and pull Shining Armor's saddlebags to the side to get out of her way as she exited the gem vault. Shining Armor politely asked if he could help her up the stairs, and she accepted his offer gratefully, telling him how wonderful he was to have found these diamonds.

Twilight turned around and asked Zephyr Breeze, "If you don't mind me asking...you haven't smiled much today, even though you've just made one of the biggest gem deals in history. May I ask...why?"

He shook his head. "It's nothing you've done," he sadly answered, "It's something _I've_ done, ten years ago today."

"Zephyr," Rarity whispered. "There's no need to discuss it!"

"I feel I need to get this off my chest," Zephyr sobbed, "It's a sad, sad tale-and...as you have asked, I'll tell it." He paused a moment and dabbed his eyes with his handkerchief. After he'd composed himself a little, he continued, "I had a sister, once."

Twilight immediately thought that this was the story of Fluttershy, and hoped that, if Fluttershy heard it from her brother's perspective, _maybe_ she'd change her opinion. "It's all right," Twilight softly answered, "Go ahead. Tell your story."

After taking a deep breath, Zephyr continued, "She...had autism of a sort, but I hadn't realized it at the time. Her comfort-item was her teddy bear, and even long after she should've outgrown her attachment, she took it with her everywhere. As a colt, I thought it would be funny to take it from her while we were at school on the playground; I thought it was a harmless prank, but...but it destroyed her!" He began to break down at this point.

Nuzzling her husband in comfort, Rarity continued the story. "The fault is mine, too; I helped him steal it. After we did...Fluttershy ran away crying, and we never saw her again. At first, we thought she had only run away from home after we took her bear...but then we found her hoofprints going into the river...and no hoofprints coming out. The poor dear...she _drowned_ herself..all because of our prank!"

"She was an absolute _angel!_ " Zephyr howled. "She was so sweet, so kind, so gentle...! Oh, Fluttershy, I hope you're in a better place now...!"

Twilight mind raced. _Have we been guided to town by a_ _ **ghost?**_ She turned around to look at Fluttershy, and she was shrinking back into a dark corner and pulling Shining Armor's saddlebags with her into the shadows. _No...she can't be a ghost-she was warm to the touch while we were sleeping in the cave, and she was eating grass like the rest of us_ _ **living**_ _ponies on the way here. She's_ _ **alive**_ _, no doubt about it! Besides, shouldn't I_ _ **not**_ _be believing in ghosts, anyway?!_ Twilight turned back to Zephyr and Rarity, saw they were _both_ crying now, and then turned back toward where Fluttershy was hiding. She looked at Applejack, and could tell that _she_ was just as much at a loss to what to do as Twilight was. _Fluttershy's terrified, and these two generous, kind unicorns don't know the truth and are hurting_ _ **so**_ _much...if I tell them, Fluttershy will just get more frightened, but if I_ _ **don't**_ _tell them, they'll go on thinking that their sister is dead!_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Fluttershy's voice mumbling something from her dark corner. Rarity and Zephyr heard it, too, and immediately gaped in her direction. "Have I gone mad?!" Zephyr gasped.

"I hear her, too!" Rarity whispered back.

Fluttershy's voice became louder and faster. It seemed like she was reciting a poem or something-then Twilight realized what was going on: Fluttershy was so desperate to escape this situation that she was saying the spell to take her to another world! " _Don't do it_ , Fluttershy! You don't have to run!" Twilight shouted.

Rarity and Zephyr were now staring at Twilight.

"I-I can explain," Twilight told them, but then she turned back to where Fluttershy was. "Fluttershy, they don't _hate_ you at all-they never did; you don't need to be afraid of them! They're _very_ sorry, and they're _never_ going to hurt you again!"

There was only silence coming back.

"It's okay, Fluttershy," Applejack said. "You can come out, now. You don't need to be afraid."

There was still no answer, no movement.

"Did she complete the spell?" Twilight wondered aloud.

Shining Armor descended the stairs. "What's all the fuss about?" he asked.

"Was that...was that my sister's ghost?" Zephyr asked, pale as a sheet.

"Fluttershy is Zephyr's sister," Twilight explained to Shining Armor. She turned back to Zephyr and continued, "Your sister _didn't_ drown herself; she really just ran away from home," Twilight explained. "She's been living like a wild animal in the forest ever since she ran away-she was never in any danger from predators because she can communicate with them and make friends with them; in fact, she used her magic to save the three of us from a bear when we came here from Ponyland, and then she led us back here to Canterlot so we could find a gems dealer to get a ruby," Twilight explained.

"She was in our 'ouse _the 'hole time_?!" Rarity gasped.

Twilight nodded. "She was too afraid to make herself known-she thinks there's something about her that makes everypony who sees her hate her. That's why she put on my cloak and never took it off or even took the hood down, so nopony would see her..."

Rarity and Zephyr looked at each other in disbelief. Twilight could guess what they were thinking: they now actually had a _chance_ to make up for the _worst mistake_ of their lives! She could relate; she'd learned a lot about regret in the last few days-from realizing her own big mouth had put her family in danger to mistakes she'd never known she'd made until she'd read Applejack's entry in her journal, there were plenty of things she'd wished she could take back. But she knew these were _nothing_ compared to Rarity's and Zephyr Breeze's regrets: she had never believed she had caused anypony's _death_!

Twilight fished a lantern out of her saddlebag, shaking it clear from the precious rubies that now filled her bags. Slowly she walked toward the shadowy corner where Fluttershy had hidden. "Listen...Fluttershy... _nopony_ hates you. Nopony _ever_ did; they just made the mistake of thinking that picking on you was _fun_ -and it's a mistake they'll _never_ make again! I don't know whether you're still there, or whether you completed the spell and are on a different world, right now...but if you're there, _please_ don't be scared. You can come out, now. You can _be a family_ with your brother and your new sister-in-law; they won't hurt you again!"

Twilight lifted her lantern and shone it on the dark corner...and only the shattered remains of a star emerald were there. Twilight gasped. "Shining Armor, did you have star emeralds in your bags?"

"I...figured we should take a few back with us, just in case we ever wanted to explore Cumuland..."

"Fluttershy used one-she's in Cumuland now."

There was silence for a few moments. "We have _got_ to go get her back!" Zephyr insisted.

Twilight looked at Applejack and Shining Armor. "She...she _saved our lives!_ We've still got enough time to help her _and_ get back to Ponyville! We've got about 24 hours!"

Shining Armor nodded. "Applejack, you don't have to come with us."

"Yes, I do! She saved _my_ life, too, and it was _my_ stupid wish to get eaten by a bear!"

"You wished to get eaten by a _bear_?" Rarity asked.

Applejack blushed. "It's a long story."

"Does Fluttershy have my saddlebags?" Shining Armor asked, looking around.

"She must," Twilight thought aloud, "I don't think she _meant_ to take them, but..."

Shining Armor shook his head. "No. Not _her_! She's no thief."

"There's something I need to get first," Zephyr shouted. He bolted up the stairs, shouting behind him, "Get ready to depart for Cumuland; I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Twilight dropped her saddlebags and raced after him. "Where are you going?"

"To Fluttershy's grave marker!" he answered. "There's something there we need to get! You can come along if you like," he added, panting.

They raced through the streets of Canterlot. Most of the businesses were closed, and the sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky. Twilight still had a difficult time getting used to being in a city so huge, but she stayed close behind Zephyr, who knew his way.

Within minutes, they were out of the city and drawing close to a large, grassy cemetery full of flowers. One grave marker had something on it that reflected the light of the setting sun so brightly that she couldn't tell what it was; it was to this marker that Zephyr galloped. As Twilight got closer and closer, squinting all the time, she saw that it was a glass box that had a teddy bear inside. "That was her comfort-item?" Twilight asked.

Zephyr nodded. "It's the only thing of her that I had left; I enshrined it here and kept it in this glass box to keep it safe from the elements," he explained, trying to open the box with his horn magic. "It was taking this away from her that started this whole mess; if I can mend it by giving it back to her-! Oh, _why_ won't this _blasted_ box open?" he growled.

"Let me," Twilight suggested. "Stand back."

Zephyr did stand back, and Twilight focused a bucking kick at a corner of the box. The glass shattered, but the teddy bear was undamaged. Twilight blushed a little. "Earth pony strength," she explained.

Zephyr quickly used his magic to levitate the teddy bear out of the smashed glass, and immediately galloped back to his home and jewelry shop. "I'll have to call someone at the cemetery to take care of that glass, but we _must_ hurry!"

The run back to the shop felt faster, but it was getting darker and darker every minute as they ran. A few stars were visible in the purple sky by the time it was in sight.

As they tromped back into the shop, Zephyr used his magic to pull an umbrella out of a stand by the door, and also slung a sword in its scabbard over his back. As he whispered a few words to a servant, Twilight saw Shining Armor wearing her saddlebags and Applejack wearing her own saddlebags. Rarity was standing next to them wearing a beige trench coat and a beret, and holding a star emerald and carrying a purse. "We've packed a few diamonds along with your rubies so we can get back to Unicornia after we're there," she explained to Twilight. "Any idea what we'll find in Cumuland?"

Twilight raked her mind to try to remember what she'd read about it in her research. "Most of the ground is actually _clouds_."

" _Clouds?!_ " Rarity gasped. "Can a pony _walk_ on clouds?"

"In that world, _yes_ ," Twilight explained. "I've read something about rainbow bridges, too, but I'm not sure what it meant."

Rarity swallowed hard. It was clear that she and Zephyr weren't used to adventuring, but they were _determined_ to find their sister back and make their family whole again, and accepted the risks. "Is everypony ready?" she asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Applejack answered.

Rarity held the emerald up and began reciting the magic words:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_  
 _Through airless space be safely hurled_  
 _My party to another world!_

With that, the five of them vanished, and small fragments of the emerald scattered across the floor. A servant quickly moved into the room to carefully sweep the pieces up and store them in a jar for Zephyr to use for something else- _if_ he came back.


	9. Chapter 9

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Fluttershy felt strange about the experience of travelling from one world to another, but she felt much safer knowing that she was making the trip alone, with no ponies to yell at her or take her things or be mean to her. She didn't know what Cumuland would be like, but she did know that her brother and Rarity wouldn't be there, and that was enough to make her want to say the spell that Twilight had told her. _Oh_ , thank goodness she had a good memory, and could remember it word-for-word!

Cumuland rushed at her suddenly, a blue and white marble that exploded towards her from the blackness of space. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on a cloud, still wrapped up in Twilight's rain poncho, underneath a starry sky with a bright full moon shining down on her, with Shining Armor's saddlebags sitting next to her.

She gasped when she saw those saddlebags-she hadn't _meant_ to steal their precious jewels! Now she was a _thief_...! She'd been so afraid, she hadn't realized that she had been _stealing_ Twilight's raincoat, _stealing_ the jewels Twilight had trusted her with that were hidden in her raincoat's pockets, _stealing_ Shining Armor's bags, and even _stealing_ the star emerald she'd used to get to Cumuland at all! She didn't _want_ to be a _thief_!

She started crying again-Twilight and Applejack and Shining Armor had been _so_ nice to her, but if they hadn't started to hate her before, _now_ they _certainly_ must hate her for stealing their rubies and emeralds!

After a few minutes of crying, Fluttershy consoled herself with a reminder that she'd always known it'd be a only matter of time before those three would start hating her, so no matter what she did, that hate was inevitable. _Yes,_ she thought to herself, _It's only logical...nothing I try to do, nothing I try to avoid doing, would make any difference in the end. Ponies_ _ **hate**_ _me. That's_ _ **just**_ _how it is._

But now she began to wonder whether there was a way she could return as much of the stolen goods as possible... _Maybe I could use the spell again with a rainbow diamond to go back to Unicornia and give them back as many of their things as I can?_ But then she remembered that Shining Armor had told her that they'd traded _all_ their rainbow diamonds for rubies and just a few emeralds. _Maybe I could use a mountain ruby to travel to Ponyland and leave their things there? ...But just_ _ **where**_ _in Ponyland would I end up? And how would they know where they should look for their things? I don't know my way around Ponyland-and I couldn't ask another pony for directions once I got there, because they'd_ _ **hate**_ _me!_ Fluttershy sobbed again. _There's_ _ **nothing**_ _I can do to make up for everything that I just_ _ **stole**_ _!_

After a few more minutes of sitting there, feeling sorry _and_ sorry for herself, Fluttershy looked around and saw that the cloud she was on didn't connect to any land. There was a huge, crashing sea dotted with forested islands beneath her, and lots of other clouds in the sky around her-some huge, some small, even some in the distance that looked like they had _cities_ built on top of them. But she saw no way to get from one cloud to another.

She took down her (well, Twilight's) hood so she could have a better look around. After all, there were no ponies to see her, so she didn't need to restrict her field of vision any more, not like she'd needed to in Unicornia-

"G'day!" a shout came from above her.

She gasped and shrank down to the floor-whoever had said that had _seen_ her, and would undoubtedly _hate_ her already! And she couldn't use the world-travelling spell to get away, either, since it takes so long to cast the spell: they'd see her and take the gems away before she could finish, just to be _mean_ to her!

"Are you a _unicorn?!_ " a second voice shouted. "Hey-you _are_ a unicorn!"

"Cadence's _mane_! I thought unicorns were a myth!" the first voice shouted back, getting closer by the second. Fluttershy looked up through squinted eyes and saw it belonged to a blue pony with a rainbow-colored mane and _wings_! She'd never seen a pony with _wings_ before!

"Me too," the second voice answered. Fluttershy turned her head and saw a _second_ flying pony, with bubblegum-pink fur and darker pink, curly hair. This pink pony continued, "I thought the myth started when a traveler was describing a rhinoceros, but then a _lot_ got lost in translation, and then when somepony said 'I don't believe in no unicorns,' somepony else decided 'I'll just _make_ some proof that they're real!' And then he went and got some pony fossils and some narwhal tusk, and-hey, why's she wearing a rain slicker? Ooo, don't you think rain slickers make everything look so much _cuter_?"

"'Course I think that!" the rainbow pony answered. "And _that's_ why you wouldn't see me _dead_ in a rain slicker!"

"Well, of _course_ I wouldn't see you _dead_ in one!" The pink pony giggled, "That's the whole _point_! You wear a rain slicker so you _don't_ catch pneumonia, and then, you _live!_ "

They both laughed-the rainbow pony because of how the pink one had missed the point, and the pink one because she thought the blue one was just being silly.

But laughter had a completely different meaning to Fluttershy. What was an expression of fun and contentment and silliness and stress-relief and all the good things in life to other ponies was to Fluttershy an expression of hate and exclusion and cruelty and despair and _horrible_ loneliness. The moment she heard those two ponies laughing, she _knew_ : there was _no_ hope left. They absolutely _hated_ her already, and she had nowhere to _go_!

Out of tears, she undid the clasps on the front side of Twilight's raincoat and let it fall to the cloud beneath her. It wouldn't do her any good now. She sadly walked up to the edge of her cloud and looked down at the ocean below. If she jumped, one of two things would happen: either she'd die, or else she'd have a _chance_ to find some friendly animal in the ocean who could take her someplace safe, someplace far away from ponies. Either of those possibilities was better than _this_. So she closed her eyes and jumped.

For a few seconds that felt like hours, Fluttershy felt the cold ocean winds ruffling her yellow fur and her pink mane and tail. They even made her horn vibrate in ways that added to her dizziness in freefall. She kept her eyes closed; she figured that the sight of the ocean rushing up at her would terrify her even more, and her poor heart was _so_ exhausted of being terrified! At this point, she was actually _hoping_ that this would be death. She'd been told by her mother while she was still alive that ponies who did their best to be good would go on to a better place called paradise after they died, and she _had_ done her best. She'd failed at times; she didn't mean to steal those rubies and emeralds, or even steal Twilight's raincoat or her brother's bags-those were on accident! So maybe, just maybe, if this killed her, she'd go on to paradise, where she could finally be _free_ of all this fear!

Just as she was thinking about this, she felt warm arms wrap themselves around her front legs and back legs, and felt her fall get slower and slower, until she was going _up_ instead of down. _This is it!_ she thought. _I've died, but it must have 'appened so fast, I didn't feel any pain. That was nice! And these must be angels, coming to carry me away to paradise! Maybe_ _ **now**_ _I can see my_ _ **mommy**_ _again!_

But then it occurred to Fluttershy that the curse might still be on her: what if, while she was in paradise, every pony who looked at her would _still_ hate her? What if the justice of that place allowed her inside, but she _still_ caused hate in everypony there? What if _her own mother_ would hate her as soon as she saw her?

Fluttershy's heart sank at this thought, but an even worse thought came up after that-one that made her wish she could shrink and shrink until she became nothing at all: she wondered if she would _spoil_ paradise simply by _being there_! Hate was a terrible thing, a thing that shouldn't exist at all in a wonderful place like paradise. And if she was a bringer of hate, then no matter how well-behaved she was, she shouldn't go to paradise at all! But the thought of going to the other, awful place for ponies went who were bad was _terrifying_ to Fluttershy!

She had kept her eyes shut this whole time, and now she clenched them tighter, terrified that, if she opened them, she'd be greeted by the sight of wicked ponies being tortured with fire and lava and monsters and cruel, _sharp_ things! In desperation, she pleaded to the two angels that were carrying her soul, "Please...is there some... _quiet_ corner of Paradise where you can leave me, so I'll be alone, where I won't disturb any other ponies?"

Up until now, Fluttershy had _no_ idea that it wasn't angels, but the very same pink and rainbow pegasus ponies who had been flying above her that had snatched her out of her death-drop and were carrying her up to another cloud, and that she was still alive. But she got an idea as soon as she heard the pink one say, "Paradise? But...you're not _dead_!"

Fluttershy took a few moments to process this, and in that time, they'd already set her down on another, larger cloud not far from the cloud where she'd first appeared. But before she'd fully processed the fact that she wasn't dead, something else happened-something that, for the first time in ten years, had been something a pony did that meant "I love you" to Fluttershy instead of meaning "I hate you": the pink one had _hugged_ her. And she'd hugged her in a way that a unicorn never could: her hooves were wrapped around her shoulders, and her wings were wrapped around her back and head like cozy, feathery blankets. Fluttershy had been so cold from her fall that the feel of that warmth felt like paradise to her! Fluttershy couldn't help herself-it had been so long since she'd felt a hug from another pony that she just _had_ to hug her back and cry into her shoulder!

She couldn't get many tears out, but her breaths were gasping and quick.

"Pinkie Pie, I ain't so sure you should be hugging a loonie!" the rainbow pegasus warned her.

"But she _needs_ a hug! Can't you see she _needs_ it worse than anything?"

"I'm just worried about what we're getting involved in, here! I mean, if she's mad, shouldn't we be calling the jacks or something?"

"Shh! Rainbow Dash, don't say anything that might upset the poor shiela! Just go get her things!"

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything else; she just flew over to the tiny cloud where Twilight's raincoat and Shining Armor's saddlebags were resting. Fluttershy worked up the courage to open her eyes and saw Rainbow Dash on that tiny cloud, but she did something Fluttershy hadn't realized was possible: she stomped her front hooves on the cloud, and a bridge made of magic rainbow colors jumped out of the small cloud, arced toward the cloud she was sitting on, and a moment after the rainbow connected the two clouds, Rainbow Dash walked on top of the rainbow as if it were a solid bridge, carrying the saddlebags and cape over her back. "Ooof!" Rainbow Dash complained. "What do you have in here, rocks?"

Fluttershy swallowed hard. " _Yes_!" she whimpered.

"... _What_?!"

"But they're _not mine_!" Fluttershy sobbed.

"... _WHAT_?!"

"Oh...I didn't _mean_ to steal them, _honest_ I didn't!" Fluttershy sputtered. "But I _'ad_ to get away; I only meant to take _one_ star emerald to use the spell to come 'ere, but then Shining Armor's saddlebags were so close to me that _they_ came with me!"

"... _ **WHAT**_?!"

"Rainbow Dash, stop saying _what_ all the time!" Pinkie scolded. She looked back at Fluttershy, but Fluttershy looked down as soon as their eyes met. "I'm sure you'll explain everything, in a way we can understand, once you're ready, won't you?" she asked.

Fluttershy could only sob back.

Pinkie's reply to that sob was to pull Fluttershy in closer, rest her head on her shoulder, and hug her even tighter. "Of _course_ you will!" she added, nuzzling Pinkie a little.

Rainbow Dash dropped the raincoat and the bags on the cloud. "Did she say something about a _star emerald_? Aren't those the most valuable gems that exist?"

"Shh. She'll tell us all about it after she's had a good cry. Just let her be for a little longer."

After a few more minutes, after Fluttershy had gotten quieter, Pinkie lifted Fluttershy's chin and asked her softly, "Now...can you explain who you are, and how you got here, and what you mean about star emeralds, and about rocks that aren't yours?"

Fluttershy sniffled back a tear and began, "Me name's Fluttershy. I'm from Unicornia."

"What-another _planet_?!" Rainbow Dash asked, getting excited.

"Yes...and there's a ' _orrible_ curse on me that makes anypony who looks at me _'ate_ me!"

"Well, my cousin Rainbow Dash and I don't hate you, do we?" Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash for an answer.

Rainbow stammered, "Wha- _'course_ we don't! We wouldn't have saved your skin if we _did_!"

Pinkie looked back at Fluttershy. "Now...how did you get here from another planet? We didn't see a spaceship, but we _did_ see a light in the sky that fell down around here-was that you?"

"I...I don't know if it was me, but it wasn't a spaceship that brought me 'ere; it was a magic spell."

Rainbow Dash's wings spread upwards in excitement. "A magic spell? You've got _magic_?"

"Of course she does, she's a _unicorn_!" Pinkie insisted.

"Now you've got me _real_ interested!" Rainbow Dash smiled. "How's the magic spell work? Can anypony do it, or is it just unicorns?"

"I...I think anypony can do it. You need a gem in your 'ooves, and which gem you use decides which world you get to. I think rainbow diamonds get you to Unicornia, mountain rubies get you to Ponyland where the earth ponies live, and star emeralds get you 'ere to Cumuland."

Pinkie's and Rainbow Dash's jaws dropped. "A _star emerald_? It takes the most expensive gem to get _here_!? ...Crikey, I _knew_ we were special! How'd you find out about this spell?"

"Twilight told me about it-it goes like this:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_  
 _Through airless space be safely hurled_  
 _My party to another world!_

"That's very pretty," Pinkie told Fluttershy, trying to encourage her. "But who's Twilight?"

"She's the earth pony explorer who found the spell. I saved her life and her brother's life and her friend's life from a bear with me animal-talking magic...but..." Fluttershy suddenly grew sad as she remembered: "But by now...she must _'ate_ me!"

"Why?" Pinkie asked, still holding Fluttershy. "How could she hate you if you saved her life _and_ the lives of two other ponies she cares about?"

"B...because I accidentally took her brother's saddlebags with me when I cast the spell, and they're full of _'er_ rubies and emeralds! Oh, but I didn't _mean_ to take all those precious gems away from 'er and 'er brother!"

"So...you jumped off the cloud to drown yourself so the jacks wouldn't get you? Sounds like a song I heard once..." Rainbow Dash asked.

"J-jacks?"

"Don't say things that might scare her!" Pinkie hissed, hugging Fluttershy even more tightly.

Fluttershy hugged her back and howled, "That's not the _only_ thing-I cast the spell to get here because I just _'ad_ to get away from me brother and Rarity! They were _'orribly_ mean to me when I was a filly, so mean that I ran away from _'ome_ before I finished _school_!"

"And the way they treated you was what made you think everypony hates you?" Pinkie asked.

" _And_ the way everypony around me just _laughed_ at me when they stole me teddy bear! I knew they 'ated me, and that any grown-up I could ask for 'elp would 'ate me, too!" Fluttershy began sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. "Oh...I feel so _cold_!"

"Hush now," Pinkie whispered, putting Twilight's raincoat back around Fluttershy's shoulders. "If there's going to be any trouble about that bag, Rainbow Dash and I will just take it to the police and say we found it lying around. If Twilight comes chasing a jewel thief, the first thing she'll do is go to the police, so the police will just give it back, and once she's got it back, then she won't have to chase you anymore, see?"

Fluttershy shuddered. " _Thank you!_ " she whispered, pulling the hood back up over her face.

At that moment, another light flashed down onto the same small cloud that Fluttershy had landed on.

"Uh-oh," Pinkie thought aloud, "That looked just like the light that brought _you_ here!"

"We might not have time to take that bag to the jacks, after all!" Rainbow Dash cautioned.

Fluttershy looked at the cloud, and gasped. "It's _them_!" she whispered.

As the light faded, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie saw five ponies-two unicorns and three earth ponies. One of them spotted them with a pair of binoculars and shouted and pointed down at them.

"Run for it!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Leave the bags; maybe they'll be satisfied!"

The three mares sprinted away as the five ponies crossed the rainbow bridge to their cloud. "Where are we going?" Fluttershy shouted between gasps.

"We'll make another bridge to the next cloud," Rainbow Dash explained. "And as soon as you're across, we'll break it so they can't follow-if _you_ didn't know how to make a rainbow bridge, then maybe _they_ won't, and then we'll have lost them!"

Shining Armor rushed up to the saddlebags that the three mares had abandoned, and recognized them immediately. "Fluttershy must be one of those three mares!" he shouted, giving Twilight's saddlebags back to her.

"This doesn't make much sense," Applejack thought aloud. "If Fluttershy thinks everypony hates her, then why would she be with two other ponies?"

"I don't know," Zephyr admitted. "How I wish I knew how her mind worked now...! Ten years living like a wild animal...what does that _do_ to a pony's mind?"

"Do we still go after her?" Twilight asked. "I mean...she's _afraid_ of us, now! Isn't chasing her just going to make her feel more afraid?"

"I've spent every day for the last ten years regretting something I did as a schoolcolt, wishing I could see my sister again," Zephyr protested. "If we stop now, we may never get another chance to track her down! And for all we know, those two pegasus ponies she's with are going to hold her for ransom, as they may know that we are a wealthy family." Zephyr raised his sword, still mostly in its scabbard, and clacked the hilt against the scabbard. "If that's their plan, they've made a terrible mistake!"

"That's not likely," Shining Armor observed, looking in his bags. "All the gems are still here; if they were after money, they'd have taken these!"

"Unless they didn't know they were here," Rarity pointed out.

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were ushering Fluttershy to a different cloud. As soon as she was off the rainbow bridge, Rainbow Dash flew to the side of it and bucked it. The rainbow seemed to crack, then faded away in a shower of sparkles. "Keep running," she shouted to Pinkie and Fluttershy, "I'll keep an eye on them to see if they're still following us!"

She turned and saw that the five ponies had stopped at the saddlebags and were talking to each other, which was _definitely_ giving them a head start. She crouched down on her cloud to try to make it harder for them to see her and waited to see what they'd do next.

Twilight spoke up: "Listen...if all five of us keep chasing her, then it'll just scare her more. If Zephyr and I go ahead and try to talk with them, then maybe they'll let Fluttershy come back with us-I've spoken with Fluttershy before; she might trust me."

Zephyr nodded, using his unicorn magic to levitate a diamond and an emerald into his jacket pockets. "The emerald if we need to offer a bribe, the diamond to get her back," he explained. He set his umbrella down by Shining Armor's saddlebags and gave his wife a kiss.

"Stay safe, darling," Rarity whispered.

"I shall, dearest."

"Don't do anything too dangerous, Twilight," Shining Armor cautioned her. "We're a long ways up!"

"We'll be careful," she insisted.

They walked up to the edge of their cloud, looking at the cloud where they knew Fluttershy had fled to. "How are we to proceed?" Zephyr asked.

"I thought I saw them making a rainbow bridge by stomping down on the cloud at the edge...let me try it..." Twilight reared and brought her hooves down hard on the cloud's edge. A jet of colored light flew high up into the air, at a much steeper angle than Twilight had intended, and then came crashing down and fell and fell until it hit a wave on the ocean below. As soon as the magical light touched the water, the whole proto-rainbow disintegrated.

Rainbow Dash was still watching them, and when she saw this, she burst out laughing. Those greenhorns had _no_ idea what they were doing, or even how to get around in Cumuland! Of course, if they hadn't known she was there before, the certainly knew it now that they'd heard her laughing, but Rainbow didn't care, because they couldn't _reach_ her!

Twilight frowned. "Okay," she growled, "Let's try that _again_...!" Twilight stomped the cloud's edge with less force and more of a slight forward push as her hooves connected. This time, the colored light fired almost straight forward, but didn't arc upwards at all. In fact, it arced downwards and disintegrated when it hit the sea.

Rainbow Dash laughed even harder. "You drongos couldn't catch a _cold_!" she taunted them.

"Now see here," Zephyr shouted back at her. "That's my sister you're carrying away!"

"Carrying away? What're you on about?! We're _helping_ her get away from _you_! She just tried to _drown herself_ about ten minutes ago because she was so afraid, and it's _you_ that she's afraid of!"

Zephyr froze, but for a reason Rainbow Dash couldn't have guessed at: her accusation had scored a bullseye. If he hadn't been so tense at the time, he probably would've shed a tear at that.

But his guilt was interrupted when Twilight again slammed her hooves on the cloud's edge, this time with more forward momentum and just the right amount of force, and the rainbow light arced right into Rainbow Dash's cloud and formed a solid bridge.

Rainbow Dash gasped and flew back toward Pinkie and Fluttershy. "They're _coming_!" she shouted. She looked around and saw a small cloud that was pretty far away from any other cloud. "I know how we can lose them! Pinkie, get up to that cloud-we're going to do a _double_!"

"A double?" Fluttershy asked as Pinkie Pie flew toward the small cloud.

"It's a special kind of rainbow bridge-takes two pegasi to make one; they send out rainbow bridges from two different clouds at the same time, and the rainbows meet in the middle. Lets you make _much_ longer bridges, and since none of the ponies chasing you is a pegasus, they won't be able to follow us-all I have to do is crack the bridge behind us once you're over. But get ready to _run_!"

Pinkie had alighted on the small cloud, and she spread her wings as some kind of signal to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow spread her wings, too. They both began to rhythmically wave their wings until they were synchronized, and then they gave three progressively wilder waves, then both slammed their clouds at the same time. Rainbow light arced from cloud to cloud and met in the air in the middle, and then formed a solid bridge.

"Go, go, _go_!" Rainbow Dash shouted to Fluttershy. "Run for it!"

She turned around, and saw that Twilight and Zephyr had already made it across their rainbow bridge and were running across the cloud toward them. They could already hear Twilight crying, " _Wait_! _Wait_ , Fluttershy! You don't need to _run_!"

But Fluttershy, convinced that Twilight hated her, ran all the faster across the long rainbow bridge. Rainbow Dash flew after her, keeping herself between Fluttershy and her pursuers.

By the time Fluttershy's hooves touched the small cloud, Twilight and Zephyr were already halfway up the long rainbow. Pinkie Pie held Fluttershy tightly in another hug, and Fluttershy hugged her back, trembling, eyes clenched shut in terror.

Rainbow Dash wheeled around, pawed the ground, and snorted at Twilight and Zephyr. She spread her wings wide to make herself look bigger, and shouted at them, "Rack off!"

Twilight and Zephyr stopped in their tracks. Zephyr drew his sword. "I'm warning you," he growled, "I'm a championship fencer. I could clip your wings before you could so much as _say the word_ 'sword'!"

"Oh, so we're making _threats_ now, are we?" Rainbow Dash sneered. She took off and flew next to the rainbow with her hind legs poised to buck it. "Then how's _this_ threat sound: before you can move your sword an inch, I can buck this rainbow into nothing, and then you two can drown in the ocean! How's _that_ threat for ya?!"

Twilight whispered to Zephyr, "Put that sword away! It _isn't_ going to get Fluttershy back!"

Zephyr glanced at Fluttershy cowering in Pinkie's embrace. At that sight, his eyes widened-these strangers were Fluttershy's comfort, and _he_ was her terror-this was the _exact opposite_ of how it should've been! But then again, Fluttershy was crazy...and it was _his_ fault she was. He put his sword back into its scabbard.

"I...I suppose I shouldn't pretend that I've not been the villain in this story..." he admitted sadly, looking down at the ground.

"I'll say you shouldn't!" Rainbow Dash snorted. "She tried to _drown_ herself not half an hour ago! She nearly _carked_ it!"

Zephyr looked up, stiff as a board. After a few moments, he swallowed hard. Finally, in a voice so hoarse it was almost a hiss, he asked, "She...she tried to kill herself _tonight_?!"

Rainbow Dash nodded.

Pinkie Pie lifted up Fluttershy's chin. "Is that your brother?"

Fluttershy nodded, not looking back at him.

"He looks awfully sorry for making you so miserable!"

Fluttershy said nothing.

"I think...I think you should forgive him. I'm sure Twilight forgives you for accidentally taking her rain slicker and her brother's bags!"

"Absolutely!" Twilight shouted. "You can keep the rain poncho-I can just buy another one!"

"See? She doesn't hate you after all."

Fluttershy still said nothing.

"Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked.

"What?" she answered, not taking her eyes off of Zephyr and Twilight.

"I think this has all been a misunderstanding. I think Fluttershy's not right when she says that everypony who looks at her hates her; I think she's just had one too many mean things happen to her, and she's just afraid...and I think that she doesn't need to be. And I think you can let those two offworlders come up here and make up with Fluttershy."

Fluttershy gasped and hugged Pinkie back even tighter. " _Please_ don't make me face _them_!" she howled.

Zephyr again swallowed hard. "Fluttershy...please, listen to me!" he finally shouted to her. "Ever since the day you ran away, I've believed you were dead, and that I was the reason you'd died. I cry every time I think of you!" Tears began to drip down his nose. "Ever since that day, I've tried to be a kinder pony-"

"PLEASE! Just- _go away_!" Fluttershy sobbed. " _I can't talk to you_!"

Zephyr froze, wishing so much that his sister would forgive him and come back with him and begin to heal from all the hurt that he'd layered on her...but he began to despair that it was even _possible_!

"Wait," Twilight thought aloud. "...Maybe you can't talk...but can you read something he's written to you?" Twilighted asked.

There was silence for a few moments, then Pinkie nuzzled Fluttershy and answered on her behalf, "I'm sure she can."

"I think I know what can help, here. But we need to go back to my saddlebags to get it. It's my journal."

"Your journal?" Zephyr asked.

Twilight nodded. "There's a lesson about hate that Applejack learned by reading my journal, and that I learned when I read something that Applejack wrote in it, too. And we learned that, when you really get to know a pony by reading their deepest thoughts, you...you can't help but lower your defenses. Maybe if Fluttershy reads my journal...she'll get to know me, and she'll feel like she doesn't need to be afraid, anymore. And if she reads an apology letter from you and Rarity...I think she'll be less afraid of you, too."

Zephyr swallowed again, and this time slung his sword over his back, intending to make it clear that he was putting it away for good, this time. "I expect you'll want to break this bridge soon, so that we can't cross over, and so that Fluttershy will feel safe. After you break it, will you carry a few small items to her?"

"What items?" Rainbow Dash asked, suspicious.

"Just three stones-two emeralds and a diamond, her journal, and this." He drew Fluttershy's teddy bear out of his pocket with his magic.

"You can give us the teddy now," Pinkie answered.

Fluttershy's ears immediately perked up when she heard the word "teddy". Zephyr thought to press his luck and try to get Fluttershy to come to him immediately, but then he thought he'd better not try it-putting pressure on Fluttershy, when she had _just_ attempted suicide less than a half an hour ago, _wasn't_ a good idea! So Zephyr simply set the teddy down on top of the bridge, turned around, and walked back towards his wife and the two earth ponies.

Rainbow Dash scooped up the teddy and carried it to Fluttershy. Her eyes widened as she picked it up and held it up to her cheek with her magic. After a few moments cuddling it, she finally whimpered, "It seems so much smaller now that I'm not a little child anymore!"

Pinkie whispered to Fluttershy, "Now...I think you should go and forgive your brother, but you don't have to if you don't want to."

Fluttershy suddenly looked very torn. She felt like going to him and forgiving him was the right thing to do, but her only memories of him were of the times where he had bullied her, and those memories scared her too much to allow her to move. Tears began trickling down her cheeks, and she began trembling again.

"Hush, now," Pinkie whispered. "I can see you want to, but you're not quite brave enough-not yet, anyway. But I think maybe you _will_ be brave enough once you read that journal. Meanwhile, let's just get cozy here. C'mon, lie down for a bit. Like this."

Fluttershy lay down on top of the cloud, and its surface felt fluffy and soft. Pinkie tugged at the cloud's surface and pulled a cottony mass of it up like a blanket, and wrapped herself and Fluttershy up in it. Within minutes, they both felt very warm.

"Hey!" they heard. Rainbow Dash turned around and saw Zephyr, holding up a shiny notebook with his magic, along with Rarity's purse. She flew down to him, took the book and the purse with the gems in it, and flew back with them. She turned around and saw the three earth ponies clustered together in a circle, and the two unicorns looking at each other nose-to-nose. Each of the two groups was holding up a gem between them; the unicorns had a blue diamond that occasionally seemed to have other colors in it, and the earth ponies had a bright red ruby. After a few moments, both of them disappeared in flashes of light that leaped off of Cumuland in two different directions-they had gone back to their homeworlds.

"Guess that spell really works," Rainbow Dash mused.

Pinkie Pie nuzzled Fluttershy again. "Now, the ponies who scare you have all gone back to other planets, now-they're millions of miles away. They don't even _want_ to scare you, anymore! All they've left behind is your teddy, some gems, and this journal-all filled up with the things that're in their hearts. And you know what? I think there isn't any hate in their hearts-none for you, anyway, dearie. Why don't we open it up and have a look, and see what's _really_ inside?"

They opened the journal to the first page, and there was a loose note inside it-kind of like a foreword:

 _Dear Fluttershy-_

 _I know what it's like to lose the thing that's most precious in the world to me. This journal is the most precious possession I have...that may sound strange, coming from a pony who owns the mineral rights to a cave system full of diamonds, but it's true. And Applejack stole this journal two nights ago and gave it back to me just last night. Since I don't have autism, I may not know what it's like to lose a comfort-item, but it felt_ _ **amazingly**_ _good when I finally got my journal back-I hope that, when Zephyr gave you your teddy back, it felt ten times as good as it felt when I got my journal back. I can tell, you_ _ **need**_ _to feel that good._

 _I can also tell that you need this journal way,_ _ **way**_ _worse than I do. I've torn out and kept the pages that have my map of the mountain on them so that we can find our way back home to Ponyville when we get back to Ponyland, but other than that, it's all here-my story and Applejack's story is a story that I think you need to read. It's a story of years of hate that_ _ **finally**_ _got a chance to heal when we really got to know each other for the first time. And I hope that after you read this, after you've read a story where hatred is finally put to rest, you'll find healing for yourself._

 _I should probably tell you that, when I bought this journal three and a half years ago, I bought it so that I could record places I've been on the mountain so Shining Armor and I could do a systematic search to find the diamonds caves, so most of the entries here are about places we've searched. You can skip those; there's not much of a story in them at all. But scattered around these pages here and there are the bits and pieces of Applejack's and my story._

 _I hope this does you good-and, whatever you decide to do after you've read this...if it's not TOO much trouble...is there any chance I could get this journal back from you? I know that it_ _ **might**_ _be too much trouble, so please don't feel guilty if you can't arrange it, but...but I'm giving away a piece of my heart when I'm giving you this journal, and I'd like to have it back someday if I can._

 _Hoping that we meet again as friends someday soon,_

 _Twilight Sparkle_

The three mares sat on the cloud, snuggled together under its blanket-like fluff, faces cooled by the night breezes, the pages illuminated by the glorious full moon, reading all the same stories from Twilight's journal that Applejack had read. They read about the sacrifices Twilight had had to make to afford to be able to explore. Their blood ran cold when Shining Armor was dangling off the side of the mountain in the first thunderstorm they'd encountered. They breathed a sigh of relief when Twilight finally pulled him back up, smiled when she found her first diamond, and wanted to give her an encouraging hug when she told them that it'd take all her courage to go back up on the mountain. They felt like clapping the day she'd found three diamonds and finally felt like she could afford ice cream. They got mad at Applejack when she turned down the invitation and when she tried to give Twilight garbage. Their hearts went out to Twilight when she broke her leg, and they again felt like they wanted to hug both Twilight and Shining Armor when she said she'd be strong for her brother just like he'd been strong for her. Their jaws dropped with joy when they read the page where they finally found the mother lode, and their hearts warmed when Twilight related how Shining Armor had sheltered her when her poncho tore. They frowned when Twilight talked about taking Applejack down a peg, they were on the edge of their seats when they read Applejack's entry, and their hearts melted when they read Twilight's last entry where she realized she was just as bad as Applejack.

Finally, they came to the last entry before the blank pages began:

 _Dear Fluttershy-_

 _This is Rarity. Zephyr Breeze and I have wished we could say this every day for the last ten years, and now, thanks be to Princess Luna! We finally have a chance to say it:_

 _We're sorry._

 _We're sorry that we took away your teddy bear ten years ago._

 _We're sorry we pushed you further and further away from other ponies, until you felt convinced that everypony who laid eyes on you would hate you._

 _We're sorry we treated you like you were merely a source of fun, when you're really a heart and a soul that deserve love and happiness just as much as we do-probably more._

 _We hope you'll somehow find it in your heart to forgive us._

 _We'd like you to know that it was_ _ **never**_ _hate that motivated us to do those awful things to you; we did them because we thought it was funny to bully you. But now we can't see any humor in it at all._

 _We want you to know that you will always be welcome at our house; I've put a rainbow diamond in this purse for you so that you can come back any time you like. You know the spell, and if you come back tonight, there'll be a steaming hot bath and a cozy warm bed waiting for you. And we'd like you to know that, thanks to the explorers whose lives you've saved and the gems we've traded with them, we've become very, very rich indeed. We can hire the best therapists to help heal your heart and mind, and we can hire the best etiquette trainers to teach you how to be a functional adult in Canterlot society-you_ _ **can**_ _have a happy life here in Canterlot, and it's our deepest, deepest wish that you'll come back, so that we can be a family together. We miss you terribly, and we promise never to make fun of you again._

 _I've also packed two star emeralds, one for each of your two new pegasus friends. We've noticed a pattern: mountain rubies are the gems you use to get to Ponyland, but they're rare and extremely expensive in Ponyland, and rainbow diamonds are the gems you use to get to Unicornia, but they're rare and extremely expensive in Unicornia-so it follows that star emeralds are rare and expensive in Cumuland, so your new friends should get a lot of value out of them. And by showing you kindness at the moment when you need it most, they've done a_ _ **very**_ _good deed and proven themselves to be very kind and very brave. If your brother and I had been that kind, we wouldn't be in this mess._

 _Before I forget: Twilight and Shining Armor say that the rubies in your raincoat-pockets are now yours, and that raincoat is now yours, too-you needn't feel bad about taking any of them. Should you choose to stay in Cumuland and try to build a life for yourself there, those rubies should be valuable enough to help you start, but we hope oh so much that you'll come back to us!_

The letter continued with different hoofwriting:

 _This is Shining Armor, Twilight's brother._

 _Listen...family is a very, very precious thing. It binds our hearts together, even when we're far apart. If you've read through this journal, then you've seen how our families have struggled together in the face of poverty, injuries, and even just the hard work of our daily jobs. What's amazing about family is that even the toughest of those times had their silver linings, because they brought us closer together._

 _My family is the joy of my life, and...and I think you deserve to have that happiness, too, and I believe that it's safe for you to try to get it, now. I believe Zephyr 100% when he says that he's so sorry for what he did to you, and that he'll never do it again._

 _I know what it's like to have a sister-she's always been the most precious thing in the whole world to me, and now I know how lucky I've been to always wake up with her by my side, never having to wonder where she is of if she's safe. Please-don't put Zephyr through that. He might've done something terrible to you, but ten years of guilt, thinking you're dead, and that it's his fault-that's got to be a steep enough price to pay for what he did! Please don't make him wonder where you are or whether you're happy for too much longer!_

 _One last thing before I forget: I know you're not a thief, and that you only took my saddlebags with you by accident. I'm not mad about that, and even if I was, I've got them back, now. Please don't feel bad about taking them!_

That was the end of what was written. The rest of it was blank pages, still waiting for ink to touch them and tell more stories.

Fluttershy felt like a huge burden had been taken off of her shoulders: she'd felt horrified and terribly guilty about stealing Twilight's raincoat and Shining Armor's saddlebags, but now her _every_ sin had been forgiven! The plush insides of that red cape felt _so_ much softer and warmer now that she knew it was legitimately _hers_ , and that there were no hard feelings on the part of her new friends.

For the first time that night, Fluttershy smiled.

"Wow...!" Rainbow Dash said. "I can't believe that _story_! That'd make an _ace_ novel! But...but all of it _really happened!_ "

"And _we_ got to be a part of that story!" Pinkie added, getting excited. She jumped out of the nest of cloud they'd made for themselves and began bouncing on the cloud in absolute glee, shouting in an almost sing-song voice, "I can't believe how awesome it is that all that _happened_ , all that _healing_ and _adventure_ and _danger_ and _money_ and _friendship_ and _meetings_ and _**FUN**_! And Fluttershy was right there in that story HEROICALLY saving them from that bear! And now WE'RE in the story, too!" She suddenly stopped bouncing and looked at Fluttershy with a new expression-not quite sad, but not quite happy, either. "But...our part in that story isn't _quite_ over yet, is it?" Pinkie stepped up to Fluttershy and nuzzled her again. "Fluttershy...there _isn't_ anything about you that causes ponies to hate you when they see you! You've taught yourself to expect that there is because you got picked on a lot in school, but...that expectation has built a wall around your heart, just like it did with Applejack and Twilight! That wall is keeping you away from other ponies, so you can't make friends and can't be part of a family.

"But the truth is: there _isn't_ any curse on you! Rainbow Dash and I have seen a lot of you tonight, and we haven't begun to hate you at all-not even a little! You don't need to be afraid, anymore. And I think your whole adventure proves it!"

"Let's have a look in that handbag Rarity gave us!" Rainbow Dash suggested, eager to see the gems inside.

Fluttershy opened the purse, and inside it was a shiny blue rainbow diamond and two shiny star emeralds.

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "I can't believe they gave us _these!_ You could probably buy three cloudominiums with _each_ of those emeralds! ...Whoa...I guess those ponies weren't so bad, after all... ...Now I feel bad about fighting them...!"

Pinkie Pie gave Fluttershy another nuzzle. "You brother and your sister-in-law really _are_ good ponies. And they're very, very sorry for what they've done. I really think you should go back to them, tell them you forgive them, and take them up on their offer and live with them."

"And not _just_ because they're rich, either," Rainbow Dash added, "Though...that's a _pretty_ good reason, I'd say!"

"You don't need to be afraid to go back to Canterlot. If you get lost there, you don't need to be afraid to ask a pony for directions, because they won't hate you for just being who you are. You're safe, now."

The first few rays of dawn began to peek over the horizon. Fluttershy looked at the diamond resting in her hoof.

She was shaking a little.


	10. Chapter 10

This fanfiction is intended to be a proof-of-concept for ideas that could be used for in the future for Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise; therefore, the author of this work hereby grants Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media, express, written permission to use, create derivative works of, sell, claim as their own intellectual property, and in general take any action they see fit with all and any content of this fanfiction, including, but not limited, to narration, dialog, story elements, story events, names of characters, names of fictional locations, names of fictional objects, fictional properties assigned to objects that exist in real life, character traits and backstories, worldbuilding elements, lyrics, and fictional magic spells. The author of this work relinquishes all and any intellectual property rights for all and any content of this fanfiction work to Hasbro Inc. and its affiliates and licensees, including but not limited to DHX Media.

Twilight finished writing her foreword just as Shining Armor finished his letter to Fluttershy. She was shaking a little.

Shining Armor gave her a hug. "Are you cold, sis?"

She nodded. With a wavering voice, she explained, "It's that...and I'm giving up a piece of my _heart_ to help Fluttershy!"

Shining Armor gave her a nuzzle. "Something I've learned from the last few days...you can do what you know is right, but still feel weird or even _terrible_ about it. But I _know_ you're doing the right thing, here."

"I know it too, but..." Twilight couldn't finish the sentence. She just buried her face in her brother's shoulder and sobbed.

For his part, Shining Armor held her and gave her a few minutes to cry while Rarity emptied her purse into her coat pockets, slipped two emeralds and one diamond into her purse, and gave the purse to Zephyr. Zephyr shouted up to the pegasus ponies, and the brash rainbow pegasus few down, took the journal and the purse as Twilight watched with watery eyes, and flew back to the distant cloud where Fluttershy was hiding.

Twilight sobbed, "I guess there's no turning back, now..."

Shining Armor gave her another nuzzle. "We should head back to Ponyland. Mom and Dad must be worried sick by now, and we've done all we can, here."

Rarity walked up to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Zephyr and I can't thank you enough for all you've done for us. You've made us very, very rich, _and_ you've given us a chance at getting our sister back!"

Twilight wiped her eyes and made an effort to smile. "You've made _us_ rich, too. I don't even know what we'll _do_ with all the money, and...and we've been living under a crushing debt for so long...I'm not even sure what it'll be _like_ to live free!"

Zephyr picked up her hoof and gave it a light kiss. "You're going to love it. There are opportunities to grow and expand and chase your dreams; it's wonderful." He added, "Thank you _very_ much for lending us your journal for this; if my sister comes back with it, we'll be sure to keep it safe for you. Please do visit us again."

Shining Armor nodded. "We'll be back with more rainbow diamonds, probably after a few days-we'll want to rest up a while after _this_ adventure!"

Rarity smiled. "I'll be sure to get more mountain rubies to trade you for them, in that case. I'm almost worried about what being the sole purveyor of rainbow diamonds in Canterlot will do for us, but...well, I'm sure I'll find a way to enjoy it!"

"We know exactly what you mean! Mountain rubies are so rare in Ponyland that we'll be about their only source, too!"

Applejack put a hoof on his shoulder. "We should probably get moving."

"She's right," Zephyr agreed. "It's been a long day for all of us. We'll see you again soon."

The unicorns stood some distance away from the earth ponies. Rarity pulled a diamond out of her coat pocket and began to say the spell, and Twilight did the same while holding a mountain ruby from her saddlebags:

 _Magic gem with magic might_  
 _Unleash your lovely magic light_  
 _Through airless space be safely hurled_  
 _My party to another world!_

With that, they left Cumuland behind. For the third time, Twilight found herself in suspended animation, not breathing, hardly thinking, hurtling at impossible speeds while feeling like she wasn't moving at all. Pretty soon, the blue, tan, and green orb of Ponyland exploded at her, and she found herself sitting on the ledge on Rainbow Mountain that overlooked Ponyville. It was very late at night, but the sight of their home after more than 48 hours away from it was _very_ welcome. Twilight fished her lantern out of her saddlebag and held it up, hoping that her parents would see it and signal back with a light of their own. To her delight, she saw the light of a candle shining from the window of their treehome in Ponyville-it flashed twice in response. Twilight shone her light twice, and the candle answered twice again.

" _YES!_ " Twilight shouted, "Mom and Dad know we're safe! We're _home free_! YES! YES! YES!"

At that moment, a thunderclap interrupted her.

"No...NO... **NO**!" she howled as the drops started to splatter down. "Oh, _why_ didn't I ask for my poncho back!? There's _no shelter_!"

" _Sure_ there is," Applejack answered.

"Where?!" Shining Armor asked, offering Twilight his rainsuit.

Applejack pushed his rainsuit back to him, pushed Twilight down into a lying-down position, and stood over Twilight with her huge duster hanging open, shielding Twilight from the rain. "You're _talking_ to her!"

Shining Armor quickly put his rainsuit on over his slightly-damp fur and zipped it up just as the rain turned into a torrential downpour.

Applejack turned her collars up and tilter her head down, and she was looking straight at Twilight. Twilight was looking straight up at her, too. For a few moments, they just stared at each other, unsure what to say.

Finally, Twilight smiled and said, " _Thanks_ , Applejack."

Applejack smiled back. "You're welcome, Twilight."

Shining Armor cocked his head. "It's like you two are friends, now...two days ago, I couldn't stop you two from fighting! ...What's changed?"

"Applejack stole my journal," Twilight explained.

Shining Armor only cocked his head the other way. They could only guess what his mouth was doing under the flap that protected his snout from the rain. "And THAT made you _friends?!_ "

Applejack blushed. "It's a...long story."

Shining Armor sighed. "I think we've got time." A thunderclap shook the mountain. After their ears stopped ringing, Shining Armor continued, "We're going to be here a while."

"Well..." Applejack stammered, "It's kind of hard to know where to begin..."

"Applejack...she's spent the last few years assuming that you and I are...well, _lazy_..." Twilight explained.

" _Lazy_?!" Shining Armor scoffed. "Twilight, you're the most diligent pony I know!"

"Thanks a _lot!_ " Applejack growled.

"Hey!" Twilight spat, "You don't know what it's _like_ to-"

"Twilight, you're fighting again!" Shining Armor shouted.

There was a long pause where Twilight bit her lip. A _very_ close thunderclap made them all jump.

After a moment, Twilight croaked out, "Sorry...sheer force of habit!"

Applejack chuckled. "We're _both_ going to have to get used to not-being-enemies!"

"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "But...shoot...where were we...?"

"Uh...something about assumptions?" Shining Armor asked.

"Right, assumptions..."

Applejack agreed, "Right..."

"Ooo...how do we _explain_ this...?"

"Well...it wasn't just the assumptions about you being lazy that made me hate you; it was assuming everything Twilight did was to make me miserable."

"I think I started assuming that about you first," Twilight thought aloud, "When you gave me just a tiny taste of ice cream, and Shining Armor and I still hadn't saved up enough money to start exploring the mountain, so I _knew_ we couldn't take the chance to spend any of our money on ice cream...I thought you gave me just a tiny taste just to be mean to me."

"And when you didn't react the way I was expecting, I figured you were just being a jerkface, too."

Shining Armor was confused. "Just _one_ incident with ice cream was enough to make you _hate_ each other?"

"It wasn't _just_ that," Twilight answered, "But that's how it started. There were times when one of us really did try to be nice to the other and make peace, but...it was kind of too late at that point..."

"Each of us assumed the other was trying to hurt us...if that makes any sense," Applejack explained. "Twilight invites me to ice cream, I assume she's just guilt-tripping me, because our family had just started falling behind on the mortgage right then. I offer her some apple seeds that're still in the core, Twilight assumes I'm just giving her garbage to be mean-that kind of thing."

"It was _years_ of that that made us hate each other."

Shining Armor asked, "But what _changed_ during _this_ adventure? Was it your journal?"

Twilight sniffled. "Yes," she answered with a wavering voice.

"If...you don't want to talk about that, we can talk about something else," Shining Armor offered.

"It's okay," Twilight sobbed. "Applejack stole my journal while you and I were crying so that we didn't notice her. She read it while she was keeping watch that night in the cave. But while she was reading it...she got to see the world the way I saw it. That made her lower her defenses and finally what she looked like to me."

Applejack nodded, sending raindrops splattering on the ground very near Twilight's face. "I wrote a letter to her in her journal before I gave it back to her-I couldn't keep it, not after all I'd read. It felt like...like the Twilight that was in the journal, just by opening up her heart to me, was trying to be my friend. And then I felt like I couldn't betray the Twilight outside the journal by keeping it."

"When I read that letter, Applejack showed me how the world looks to her...and showed me that we're not all that different... _that's_ the reason why I thought my journal would help Fluttershy. If she could see past her own expectations that every pony who saw her would hate her, then maybe she'd be able to be a family with Zephyr Breeze and Rarity." A tear rolled down Twilight's cheek. "I...I hope I get it back."

"Don't worry," Shining Armor assured her. "In a few days, we'll take another trip to the cave to get more diamonds, then we'll travel to Unicornia and get more rubies. When we get to Rarity's dealership, you'll find your journal waiting for you. I'm _sure_ of it!"

"But what _makes_ you so sure?" Twilight sobbed.

"Because if there's one thing this trip has taught me," Shining Armor explained, "It's how important family is to everyone. I mean, at the start of this whole thing, Applejack _hated_ coming with us. She was afraid of what you'd do to her, she couldn't stand being around you, and eye contact with you was enough to wipe a smile right off her face. But she _still_ went with us, because her family needed the money. And you felt the exact same way about her, but you still went with her, because _our_ family needed the money and couldn't get it without her help. You both _knew_ your families were counting on you, and you _refused_ to let them down, even though you really, _really_ didn't want to come on this trip together."

"That's all true," Applejack agreed gravely, "But...I don't see what that has to do with Fluttershy."

"Simple: family is important to her, too. You remember how she was so scared of other ponies that she really, really didn't want to bring us to Canterlot?"

"Uh-huh."

"As soon as Canterlot was in sight, she could've asked to leave us-she could've said 'This is as far as I go, here's your poncho back,' but she _didn't_. She stuck with us, because her heart was hungry to be part of a group of ponies that could count on her, and that she could count on, too. She _wants_ friends, she _wants_ a family. And now that she's finally got a chance to get one permanently, I don't think she's going to pass it up."

"I sure hope so," Twilight sniffled. "And not just because I want my journal back someday soon, either: Rarity and Zephyr and Fluttershy-all three of them are good ponies. They deserve to be happy."

Another thunderclap interrupted them. Twilight shuddered against the cold. "This is the _second time_ in the last week that I've lost my poncho! I swear to Celestia that when we get back down to Ponyville, I am going to buy a brand-new poncho AND a full rainsuit and take them _both_ with me every single time we go up on this mountain!"

"That'll mean less space in our saddlebags for carrying back diamonds," Shining Armor cautioned her.

"I don't _care_!" Twilight answered, teeth chattering.

Applejack lay down so that her belly was resting on Twilight's back and pulled her coat closer in, trying to keep the drafts out. "Now you're not just wearing something I've worn; you're wearing ME!" she chuckled. "Now you're REALLY going to need a bath!"

Twilight giggled and stopped shivering.

Suddenly, the wind shifted, and Twilight felt a huge, cold raindrop go splat on her nose. " _UGH_!" she groaned, wiggling her nose to try to dry it off. "I sure hope _that_ doesn't happen again!" she muttered. That cued another drop to drench her nose, and another, and more in rapid succession. Twilight groaned in exasperation.

"Not on _my_ watch!" Applejack declared. She withdrew her hoof further back into the huge sleeves of her father's coat and pushed the sleeve so that it completely covered Twilight's snout. Applejack had to stand on three legs to do this, and it wasn't very comfortable, but it kept Twilight's nose dry.

"Yep, you're _definitely_ friends, now!" Shining Armor observed.

"Listen..." Applejack hesitated a moment, then continued, "I know this is kind of weird, especially coming from _me_ , but...if I can get away from my work at the farm, is it...okay...if I come with you in a few days when you go to Canterlot, again?"

"Absolutely," Shining Armor and Twilight said at the same time.

"Get _away_ from work on the farm?! Who _are_ you?!" Twilight joked. All three of them laughed. Twilight added, "You can come with us to the outfitters once we've gotten a check from Amethyst Star for the gems... _and_ paid off the mortgage at the bank. We'll get you better raingear, a lantern, a towel, a pick and shovel, some _huge_ saddlebags, a bedroll-"

"Whoa, whoa-!" Applejack stopped her. "Is all that really necessary? I didn't say I wanted to _stop being a farmer_ and start being an explorer for a living!"

"Oh...well, we'll just skip the compass and map, then!" Twilight giggled.

At that moment, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The sun peeked over the horizon, and even from the mountain, the three earth ponies could see the glorious triple-rainbow lighting up the sky. After a few chilly minutes, the rocks became dry enough to walk on again, and without even taking off their raingear, the three ponies put on their saddlebags and _galloped_ at full speed toward Night Light's treehome. Long before they got there, they saw Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Bright Mackintosh, and Buttercup _all_ rushing toward them.

The next few minutes were a blur of hugs and kisses and nuzzles and tears of relief; _none_ of them had gotten a _wink_ of sleep that night: the parents had been up all night worrying, and the children had been up all night chasing Fluttershy.

The whole town must have heard this tearful reunion, because house after house opened up, and earth ponies of every description were coming out and staring at them. Some scowled, others smiled, still others didn't know how to react.

After a few moments, Twilight looked up and saw their reactions, and she knew why some of them were scowling at her whenever their eyes met-it was because she'd spent ten weeks' worth of a pony's wages just to be _cruel_ , and had done this in a town where nearly everypony was crushed by poverty and debt.

 _Oh, no-I didn't just hurt Applejack when I did that,_ Twilight thought to herself, _I hurt_ _ **half the town**_ _! They might even think I'm even worse than Filthy Rich...! Ooo...if_ _ **only**_ _there was some way I could make it up to them all!_

Something interrupted Twilight's thoughts: the cry of the auctioneer at the auction block mentioned a name she remembered: "For the crime of accepting a bribe, we have _former_ judge of Ponyville, Swift Justice, sentenced to a term of indenture not to exceed fifteen years!"

Twilight swallowed hard. She knew that this was the very same judge who'd given her the mineral rights. The strange thing about the laws of Ponyland was that _offering_ bribes was perfectly legal, but _accepting_ them was a crime. Twilight had thought that this one bribe would be the end of her business with this judge, but now that she saw this kindly, aged stallion on the auction block, she _knew_ she _had_ to do something to help him.

" _Please_!" Swift Justice howled, "I'm not going to _live_ that long! Oh, my wife-my grandchildren, my-!"

"Shut up, you doddering old fool!" the auctioneer bellowed, cracking a cruel whip just by his ears. The terrified groan Swift Justice let out was heartbreaking to hear.

Satisfied he'd be quiet, the auctioneer yelled, "Where shall our bidding start?"

Twilight stepped up, slipped two rubies out of her saddlebag, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "My opening bid is _two mountain rubies_ in exchange for him, all his worldly property and possessions, _and his whole family_!"

The entire crowd gasped. They knew how valuable those rubies were. For a few moments, there was silence.

Twilight stared at the auctioneer with a steely scowl. Finally, she asked, "Do you accept my bid or _not_?"

Immediately, the auctioneer pounded his hoof on the block. " _Sold_ to the lady with the rubies!"

Twilight threw the rubies at him and he dropped his whip and dove to catch them.

Just as the slavedrivers were about to shove the judge and his wife and grandchildren at her, she said to them, "STOP! Don't lay a _hoof_ on them!" After another pause, she asked, "I believe this is the part where I get the keys to their chains?"

Without a word, they threw the keys to her, but she batted the keys to Swift Justice without even trying to catch them. She softened her expression, looked at him, and said, "You're free-you, _and_ your family. And your home and your things are yours again."

She stared at the ground, realizing exactly what she had to do, now, if she wanted Ponyville to forgive her. She heard the noise of locks being undone and chains hitting the dirt-perhaps the most wonderful sound in the world-and felt the tearful embrace of the _second_ family that day. She closed her eyes and nuzzled them back, but her mind was on the speech she knew she had to make, right there and then...

After a moment, she lifted her head up, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Everypony...I'm _sorry_. I've been a _horrible_ jerkface, and I should've known better than to use money to be _cruel_ , when almost everypony in town is struggling to make ends meet. There were about a thousand better ways I could've used that gold coin..." She swallowed hard. "I want you all to know that I am _done_ using money for _anything_ cruel. And...if I have to, I'm going to use the money from my share of my family's new diamond mine to free this town from debt."

The town gasped at this, but Twilight kept talking.

"In my exploring these past two days, I've _seen_ what a town looks like when it's _not_ crushed by poverty. Ponies are free to pursue their dreams, build up their homes and businesses, and the rewards for their hard work and skill go to _them_ , not to anypony else. I want that for Ponyville, and I honestly can't think of anything else that I'd want to spend money on...besides some new raingear," she shuddered. The crowd chuckled a little.

"...But..." Twilight looked at Applejack. "You might not need my help to be free of Filthy Rich. He's committed a crime: attempted _murder_ , and if I know the laws, then that means his assets are frozen- _including_ your debts to him!"

Applejack stepped up next to her old enemy and new friend, and shouted to the crowd, "Filthy Rich _knew_ that if Twilight and Shining Armor came back with diamonds, they'd be able to pay off their family's mortgage...most of you probably already know this, but he'd slapped Section 63 on Night Light and Twilight Velvet, because then if they didn't pay up, then he'd get the mineral rights to the whole cave system. He _knew_ his chances of getting those mineral rights were shot unless he stopped us from coming back, so he had his crony Silver Spoon put a bear musk patch on my back!"

Shining Armor stepped forward and held the patch up, still covered with Applejack's torn-off fur.

"He tried to attract a bear to _kill_ us! He tried to _kill_ three ponies and make slaves of two more, just so he could get richer! He's a _murderer_ , and we officially denounce him here and now!"

The whole town seemed to change in that moment. Their faces grew cold, even distant and machine-like, but one by one they turned towards Filthy Rich's office, picking up anything they could use as a shield or a weapon. Security guards who'd heard Applejack's speech lowered their weapons, or even _gave them_ to other ponies in the mob-perhaps because they knew they were outnumbered, perhaps because they were horrified at their boss's evil and wanted no part of it. Every time Twilight thought about this in the years to come, she could never quite figure out whether what the townsponies did was good or evil, but she knew that good came of it.

At that moment, Silver Spoon looked out the office window and saw the mob forming outside, and saw that Applejack, Shining Armor, and Twilight Sparkle were alive and back with heavy-looking saddlebags-and as soon as she saw the bear musk patch that Shining Armor was holding up, she knew their secret was out. Her face went pale, and she rushed to Filthy Rich's office.

"Sir!" she shouted. "There's a _lynch mob_ forming outside! They know about the bear musk!"

He gave a small sigh and reached for a bottle under his desk. "I knew this might happen _someday_ ," he said, setting the bottle on the desk, and reaching for another two glasses, "So...I prepared a little means of escape."

Silver Spoon looked at the bottle, and saw that its label clearly said "Strychnine, Poison" and had a skull and bones on it. She swallowed hard.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Having a means of escaping when things go wrong is how you win," he began to explain, but loud pounding on the other side of his office door interrupted him. "Sorry, no time for our usual banter," he quickly said, pouring the brown liquid into the two glasses. He raised his glass. "Cheers," he said with a grin, and drank it down in one draught, closed his eyes, and slumped in his chair, unmoving.

Silver Spoon was shaking with fear; she knew that the ponies of Ponyville absolutely _hated_ their creditor, and even if they didn't, she'd be facing an attempted murder charge, time in jail awaiting her trial, and most likely a hanging. She had no hope for anything better if she kept living, so she picked up the other glass and drank it down. It certainly _tasted_ like death; it was so horribly _bitter_. Her last thought was that she was glad she didn't have to live with the awful taste in her mouth for long. As darkness painlessly closed in around her, the last thing she heard was the shattering of her glass on the floor.

The mob found those two seconds later: cold, breathless, and unmoving, with a half-empty bottle labelled as poison on the desk. After several minutes staring at their bodies, the mob slowly walked away with mixed feelings. As sad as it was they hadn't gotten a chance to make their oppressor _suffer_ for everything he'd done to them, they knew: they were free at _last_! After they left, the servants carried out instructions for what to do with their bodies if this ever happened and carried their bodies to a dark storage room on the ground floor, leaving them in caskets for others to take care of later.

While these things were happening, Twilight wasted no time and took no chances: _immediately_ she and Applejack and Shining Armor took their rubies to Amethyst Star's gem dealership. Amethyst Star didn't have anything like enough money to pay for them _all_ that day, but her vault was the safest place to keep the gems, just the same. She gave Shining Armor the biggest check he'd ever seen in his life, and he knew it was much more than enough to pay what was left of the mortgage. They immediately brought it to the bank and deposited it, paying off the rest of the mortgage (they made _sure_ to get a receipt to _prove_ it had been paid), putting the rest of the money on account-half of it in Night Light's account, and opening an account for Bright Mackintosh to store the rest.

After that, they walked out with pouches full of silver coins to spend on gear at the outfitters. Twilight knew what she wanted, and got another bright tomato-red rain poncho just like her old one, and a bright tomato-red rainsuit to match it. Applejack, despite her tiredness, tried on poncho after poncho, saddlebag after saddlebag, rainhat after rainhat, and rainsuit after rainsuit: bright neon orange, electric blue, deep royal purple, slate gray, deep maroon. Finally she settled on deep forest green raingear with dun-colored saddlebags.

When they saw Shining Armor again, they saw that he'd bought a pair of goggles to keep his eyes dry the next time it rained, an extra poncho, and an impressive military-grade crossbow loaded with paralyzing darts. "The next time I see a bear, I don't want to be helpless," he explained with a grin.

Then, it was, on to a _huge_ celebration lunch at Sweet Apple Acres; they'd _earned_ it!

They carried Big Mackintosh down to the dinner table, and spread it with grilled and sautéed vegetables, steaming rolls fresh out of the oven dripping with butter and honey, fruits and flowers of every kind imaginable, and for dessert, another fresh apple pie, this time served with _ice cream_! Over this huge lunch, they told their story-a tale of three worlds, four families, broken hearts given a chance to heal, assumptions shattered, friendships allowed to form for the first time, and the bonds of family holding fast, though stretched by years of time and millions of miles of space.

After their tale was done, Big Mackintosh hugged Applejack. "I'm so proud of you, sis! It took a _lot_ of courage to give Twilight back her journal and admit that you'd taken it in the first place!"

Night Light hugged Twilight. "And _I'm_ so proud of you for giving up your most prized possession to help another pony! _And_ for finding a way to make it up to the town for what you did with that gold coin!"

Twilight sighed. "I've spent the last few days wondering what we're going to _do_ with all that money, and I'm still not sure...but I do know _one_ thing: I don't want the money to make me into a _cruel pony_!"

Twilight Velvet frowned a little. "We've always believed in you, honey, and in your research, but...it's always been in the back of my mind how having a lot of money might _change_ us..."

"If I'm being honest, I don't really _want_ to change," Shining Armor admitted. "I like the way we've been living-exploring in the great outdoors, finding things...even though it'd be normal for Twilight and me to have different rooms or at least different beds if we hadn't been too poor to afford them, I actuallly _like_ being in the same bed with her. It's warmer and...well, you're not _alone_ , so it feels safer."

"Well, then," Night Light grinned, "I hope you won't mind one of the changes me made to it while you were away: there's a brand-new mattress, pillows, sheets and a down comforter."

Twilight's jaw dropped in delight. " _Down_?! Ohhhh, so _warm and cozy_! Aw, dad, you _shouldn't_ have!"

He nuzzled her. "Sweetie, you're _more_ than worth it!"

Twilight Velvet kissed her forehead. "You're going to have to get used to having nice things like that, now that you're the richest mare in Ponyville!"

Twilight blushed and hugged her parents back.

Shining Armor blushed a little and looked at Bright Mack and Buttercup. " _Please_ tell me you got a new bed for Applejack and Big Mack, too-I wouldn't want Twilight's rivalry rekindled because Applejack gets _jealous!_ "

They laughed. "The new bed should arrive later this afternoon," Buttercup answered with a smile. "A little more comfort should speed up Big Mack's recovery."

"With the money you gave us for Applejack helping with the carry," Bright Mack explained, "We'll be able to hire some more help around the farm. There's no shortage of ponies looking for good work, and no shortage of good work to be done around here, either."

"About that, dad," Applejack chimed in. "Would it be...okay...if I took a day or two off of work later this week? I know this'll sound weird coming from me, but I'd like to help Twilight and Shining Armor carry more diamonds to Rarity, and get more rubies back."

Their eyes widened. After a moment, Big Mack asked, " _More_ rubies?! Don't you have _enough_ money as it is?!"

Applejack laughed. "Everypony knows there's no such thing as _enough money_!"

Bright Mack took Applejack's face in his hooves, looked her in the eye, and with a smile and a laugh, said, "Now, don't get this windfall turn you into Filthy Rich!"

Applejack laughed back. "It's not just for the rubies," she admitted, "I'd... _like to know_ what happened to Fluttershy. I'd like to know how Rarity and Zephyr Breeze are doing. I'd even like to know more about Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie; we barely found out anything about them when we went to Cumuland, but we saw enough to know that they're good ponies-I feel like we got off on the wrong hoof with them, but like we _should_ be friends with them..."

Twilight cocked her head. "You know, I had the same feeling..."

"All right; we'll let you go, but only if Twilight and Shining Armor are your guides," Bright Mack insisted.

"Don't worry-we brought your daughter back in one piece once, and we'll do it again!" Shining Armor promised.

" _Try_ not to come back two days late, this time!" Buttercup warned him with a laugh.

Shining Armor blushed again. "Sorry about that...I'm not proud of making you worry-"

"Well, if you're not, I _am_ ," Night Light cut in. "You did right by a brave young mare who saved your lives and walked with you to what was the scariest place in the world for her, and you did it right when she most _needed_ your help!"

Shining Armor smiled. "Thanks for seeing it that way, Dad."

Twilight involuntarily belched from her huge meal. She covered her hoof with her mouth and looked around in embarrassment.

After a moment, they all laughed. "Yeah, I can see why you'd be embarrassed by a belch like _that_ ," Applejack chuckled. "It wasn't very impressive; you have to project. Like _this:_ " Applejack then belched even _louder_ , and the whole company laughed until it _hurt!_

Finally, when they couldn't laugh any more, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Applejack went to the bathhouse for a much-needed bubble bath. The steaming hot water felt so good as it carried away all the sweat and dust they'd picked up on their long adventure, and they felt so fresh coming out that they almost weren't tired, anymore... _almost_.

Shining Armor saw that Twilight had turned her back to Applejack, and was letting Applejack scrub her back. "Hey!" Shining Armor shouted, half-joking and half-indignantly, " _I_ was the one who always scrubbed your back, Twilight!"

At this, the two mares looked at each other, grinned, and forced Shining Armor to turn his back to them, and they vigorously began scrubbing his back. "WHOA!" he shouted. "It's like I have _two_ sisters, now!" he groaned, knowing what would come next. "Watch the sides-WATCH THE SIDES!" he howled, as both of them began scrubbing him at the exact spots on both his sides where he was the most ticklish.

After that, it was a _mess_ of laughter, water, and bubbles, but all three of them came out of it clean as whistles. They said their goodbyes to each other, and trotted home.

Exhausted, they all went to bed early, while it was still mid-afternoon. The brand-new down comforters, brand-new sheets, and soft, brand-new mattresses felt _luxuriously_ warm and soft and clean against their freshly-washed fur, and after almost thirty straight hours of adventuring, it felt like an excellent ending to their muscles.

But it didn't quite feel like an excellent ending to Twilight's heart. "Shining Armor?" Twilight asked.

"Hmm?" Shining Armor groggily answered.

"You think we'll need to pay taxes on all those diamonds and rubies at some point?"

"Probably."

After another pause, Twilight asked, "What do you think is going to happen to Fluttershy?"

"She'll come back. Don't worry. We already talked about this!"

"I know, but I can't stop thinking about it."

"Thinking about it won't make her come back. It won't make you feel any better, either."

Twilight let out a wavering sigh. "Do you think...I should buy another journal?"

"You can if you want."

"I don't _know_ if I want to-!"

"Shhhh," Shining Armor hushed her. "Maybe your mind will be clearer in the morning. Try to sleep."

Trembling, Twilight asked, "Can you...hold me?"

"You don't even need to ask," Shining Armor reminded her.

For a few minutes, that's just what he did. It occurred to him that Fluttershy had needed to be held just as much as Twilight did, and he tried to remain awake for her.

Finally, Twilight said, "I...I just don't _know_ what the future holds, now!"

"Me either," Shining Armor whispered, "But I do know one thing: you won't have to face that future alone. You have parents who care about you and believe in you, and not just parents, but a brother, too." After a pause, he added, "And I think now you've also got a sister."

Seconds after this, Shining Armor felt Twilight's muscles relax, and heard her breathing become slower and much more regular. Knowing that his sister was asleep next to him, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep, too.

It was a dark and stormy night that night in Ponyville. Twilight and Shining Armor slept right through the storm, and didn't even know until morning that it had even been raining. But they never learned that the storm was not a natural one: just as they were falling asleep, there was an awakening elsewhere: Silver Spoon found herself waking up in an open casket that was sitting in a storage room in the basement of their office.

For a brief moment, she wondered whether this was her afterlife-but then it had occurred to her that any poison Filthy Rich would provide for himself would _also_ serve his purposes. Shaking off the feeling of the poison, she asked, "That wasn't really strychnine, was it?"

"No," he answered matter-of-factly, "No, it most certainly wasn't, but I couldn't let the townsponies know that, could I?" He grinned at her.

She couldn't quite bring herself to smile back. "What do we do now?"

"Well...for now, we need to get out of Ponyville."

"Won't somepony recognize us?"

"What makes you think _that_ situation could ever happen?" he asked, rising from his coffin and moving toward a small closet. He unlocked it with a key from his suit-coat pocket, and inside was an assortment of gray raingear. "Shining Armor and his sister aren't the only ones buying from the outfitters," he smirked, handing her a rainsuit with a flap that went over her snout _and_ handing her a huge hooded rain poncho.

"Aren't _two_ layers of raingear overkill?"

"Not for our purposes. The rainsuits hide our faces, the ponchos hide our profiles. We'll want _both_ hidden to conceal our identities."

"But won't these make us even _more_ conspicuous?" she asked, still reluctant to put them on.

"Trust me," he answered as he slipped his hooves into his own rainsuit's sleeves, "Nopony will take much notice of two ponies dressed heavily in raingear-not _this_ afternoon. You see...I'm aware that there are certain... _properties_ of gemstones and crystals. Say the right spell holding one, and you can get some startling effects." He took a cloudy quartz crystal out of the closet, held it in his hoof, and began to recite a spell:

 _Magic gem with magic might,_  
 _Unleash your magic, lovely light!_  
 _Let thunderclouds above us form_  
 _To drench us with a thunderstorm!_

A loud thunderclap shook the bank building, and even in that basement, they could hear lashing rains pounding against the roof and siding. Not missing a beat, Filthy Rich continued, "Actually, one reason why I wanted their diamond mine was so that I could see what effects those _diamonds_ could have..."

"I suppose it's too late for that," Silver Spoon lamented, pulling the first hood up over her head.

He looked at her and smirked. "You underestimate me." He began working at his poncho.

Silver Spoon's jaw dropped. "How can a _dead stallion_ get his hooves on a _former_ creditor's property like that?!"

"My last will and testament bequeaths all my worldly possessions to my identical twin brother Stinking Rich, living in Phillydelphia."

"I didn't know you _had_ an identical twin...brother..." Silver Spoon's jaw dropped.

The last facial expression Silver Spoon saw on his face before he snapped his faceguard flap in place was his biggest smirk _yet_.

"...You're bequeathing it all to _yourself?!_ "

"Essentially."

Silver Spoon was absolutely speechless for a few moments. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he began to dress her in her rain poncho, apparently still smiling under his hood flap. Finally, Silver Spoon asked, "But...but what about _me_?!"

"Unfortunately, this is where you and I need to part company. My twin brother is plausible enough, but if you had a twin sister too, working for him-well, it'd look too suspicious, I'm afraid. Fortunately," he added, opening a hidden safe inside the closet, "You won't be going away empty-hoofed." He produced two sacks of gold coins-Silver Spoon knew that each coin was work ten weeks of a blue-collar worker's wages, and with dozens, if not _hundreds_ of coins in the sack, knew she'd be well-provided-for. She could probably even start her own company with that money.

She slung a sack over her back underneath her poncho, out of sight. "But what happens when somepony sees that the caskets are empty?"

"They won't," Filthy Rich assured her closing the caskets and locking them with another key. "The instructions I left the staff here in the event that something like this happened were to leave myself and any other deceased employees in caskets in _this_ room, and told them there would already be arrangements made with a mortician. With the caskets shut and locked, they'll think our bodies are inside, ready for a swift, quiet burial-I made sure they were _heavy_ caskets, even without bodies inside them. Even the pallbearers won't realize they're empty."

"There are still a few things I don't get," she persisted. "Now that you've been denounced as a murderer, won't your assets be frozen-won't Stinking Rich have nothing _to_ inherit?"

"My attorneys will see to it that isn't a problem. _You_ placed the patch, after all- _I_ would have plausible deniability in court."

Silver Spoon swallowed hard, wondering whether she had only been a patsy all along-but quickly decided that, even if she was, he was compensating her well. "But...you'd still be an _accessory_ to murder, wouldn't you?"

"Not really. An accessory to murder stands to _gain_ something from a murder. Since they came back with their diamonds and paid down the debt, what _did_ I actually gain?"

"...You _are_ good!"

"Thank you."

With that, Silver Spoon set out to seek her fortune somewhere in the wide world of Ponyland, and Filthy Rich to regain his own fortune, both of them trudging out into a dark and stormy night.

It was also a dark and stormy night in Canterlot that night. In the foyer of a gems dealership and jewelry studio stood a damp open umbrella, drying. On a peg above this umbrella hung a dripping beige trench coat, and next to it hung a dripping tomato-red rain poncho. On a small desk nearby sat a shiny journal, sitting open. In it there was a letter:

 _Dear Twilight Sparkle-_

 _Thank you._

 _I never felt myself connect with another pony like I did when I read your journal, and Applejack's letter in it. I've been able to connect with lots of animals, but_ _ **never**_ _another pony!_

 _After I read everything-your experiences, the letters from you and Rarity and Shining Armor...I knew I wanted to come back home. It took_ _ **all**_ _my courage to do it, just like it took all your courage to go back up on the mountain after your brother almost died, and like how it took all_ _ **his**_ _courage when you almost died. But here I am._

 _Thank you for teaching me that I always wanted a family, and I hope I get to see you again soon._

 _Oh-and before I forget, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are the pegasus ponies who helped me while I was in Cumuland. They say they're sorry for threatening you, and that we all got off on the wrong hoof, and that they hope that they can be friends with you someday._

 _This is Zephyr Breeze; Fluttershy dictated her letter to me, as she's entirely forgotten how to write since she ran away from home._

 _Words fail me. I can't thank you enough! You've not only made this household one of the richest in Canterlot, but also one of the_ _ **happiest**_ _!_

 _Fluttershy's journey to recovery is likely to be as difficult and long as your journey to find your diamond cave; I expect there will be false leads, dead ends, frightening moments, and many treasures found sporadically along the way, just like your adventure has been. But it's a journey she's finally begun, and it will finally lead her right back to where she started: home!_

 _I can't wait to return to you your most prized possession; you've more than earned it._

The rest of the pages in that journal remained blank, still waiting for ink to touch them and tell more stories.

It was also a dark and stormy night in Cumuland. Two figures sat on a mountain, hunched over with their backs to the rain. One wore a large rubber raincoat and a rainhat with a large brim that caught the rainwater and held it, looking like an overflowing fountain. The other wore nothing.

Teeth chattering in the cold as rivers of ice-cold rainwater flowed over every inch of her, with one wing fruitlessly trying to shield her head from the deluge and another wing fruitlessly wrapped around her sides to keep herself warm, Rainbow Dash complained, " _Let's become explorers ourselves_ , you said! _Nimbus Mountain is just like Rainbow Mountain_ , you said! _I bet there's diamonds inside_ , you said! _Let's trade take them to Rarity and trade them up for emeralds_ , you said! _We'll be even_ _ **richer**_ , you said!"

"I also said you should take a rain slicker!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"I told you before: I wouldn't want to be seen _dead_ in a rain slicker!"

"And _I_ told _you_ that the whole point of a rain slicker is so that you don't catch pneumonia, and then you _live_!"

"I...refuse...to be... _cute_!" Rainbow Dash growled through gritted teeth.

"But we could've gotten you a rain slicker that looks awesome! How about a black one?"

"I told you before: I wouldn't want to be seen _dead_ in a rain slicker!"

"And I told you that the whole point of a rain slicker is so that you don't catch pneumonia, and then you _live_! ...Is it just me, or is this whole conversation going around in circles?"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"


End file.
